ertile Laiyds 

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THE FERTILE 

LANDS QF COLORADO 



AND 



NORTHERN NEW MEXICO 




A CONCISE STATEMENT 
OF FACTS 

Homeseekers desire to know about 

Irrigation, Crops and Lands located on the 

line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 

in Colorado and New Mexico 




I 



Written by Wf H.'OLIN 

Commissioner of Agriculture, Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 



THIRTEENTH EDITION 



260,000 COPIES 




PUBLISHED FOR GRATUITOUS DISTRIBUTION BY THE PASSENGER DEPARTMENT 

OF THE 

The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 

Copyright, 191 5, by 

FRANK A. WADLEIGH, Passenger Traffic Manager, Denver, Colo. 



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JUL -9 1915 



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Barnyard Scene on an n-Acre Farm 

*• m Lm j% sole object of this book is to help people who want land 
^L. * *?%/ t fi nc L t ne conditions which will best suit them, and which 
will most surely bring them to prosperity. Written from the viewpoint 
not of the man who wants to sell land, but from the standpoint of the 
landseeker, "Fertile Lands of Colorado" has had a success going beyond 
that of any other booklet prepared for general free distribution. Requests 
for it come constantly from all parts of the United States, and from all 
parts of the world. It is used by classes in the Colorado Agricultural 
College, is a standard book of reference in Colorado newspaper offices, 
has been widely quoted and recommended by the United States Reclama- 
tion Service, and has been adopted for distribution by the Colorado State 
Bureau of Immigration. 

This edition brings the total of "Fertile Lands" printed in sixteen 
years to over 260,000 copies. For this edition, all parts of the state of 
Colorado have been carefully gone over, new progress noted, and the 
entire book rewritten and brought down to date. People who have read 
previous editions will find this new matter well worth their renewed 
attention. 

The motive of the book is to get people to 
COME AND SEE FOR THEMSELVES 

The rates to Colorado from eastern points are very reasonable at all 
times of the year. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad transports carload 
Lots of emigrant movables at the lowest possible cost. The wonders of 
the scenery, the delights of the Colorado climate, make a trip to Colorado 
worth all that it may cost, while to many people it opens the doors of a 
wonderful opportunity. 

The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad is the pioneer means of trans- 
portation in Colorado, and its lines so clearly follow every valley and 
traverse every productive mesa, that a map of the state can almost be 
drawn by tracing its rails. 



The development of these beautiful and productive valleys has been 
made possible only by the courage and confidence which led to the 
investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in railway lines through 
the most difficult mountain country in the world, while the low rates to 
market given the farmers in all parts of the territory are the wonder of 
other railroads. The Denver 6? Rio Grande Railroad will haul a car- 
load of potatoes from Durango to Denver, over two mountain passes and 
several smaller divides, for a lower rate than the New York farmer, the 
same number of miles from New York City, is charged for hauling his 
crops over a level country. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad is 
actively engaged in the upbuilding of its territory, and in all the valleys 
it reaches it is recognized as the greatest single factor in the growth of 
the mountainous portion of Colorado. 

The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad takes a direct and personal 
interest in the success of every settler on its lines. Men who want to 
choose a location in the state are invited to avail themselves of the help 
of the road. Write any passenger or freight representative of the Com- 
pany and tell him what you want to get, what your circumstances are, 
how much capital you can command, what section of the state and what 
sort of farming appeals to you, and he will see to it that you get all avail- 
able information and assistance, and the lowest possible railway rates. 

COLORADO'S AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT IN 1914 



MELONS 

$585, OOO. 



POTATOES 

SI, 020,000 



SMALL FRUITS 

$400,000. 



APPLES 

$2, 960,000 



SUGAR BEETS 

$9, 767, 511. 



FORAGE CROPS 

$1, soo, ooo 



OATS 

$5, 903, 2.00 



WHEAT 

$9, 691, 700 



POULTRY 

$8, SOO, 00 0. 



hOGS 

fa, i j 6,ooo 



DAIRY CATTLE 

if 16, 94-0, OOO 




TRUCK CROPS 

£ 12, OOO, 00 0. 



FIELD PEAS 

£ S,0 0,00 



PEARS 

$135,000. 



PEACHES 

$816, OOO 



STOCK ROOT5 

£2, soo, ooo. 



hEADOW 0RAS5E5 

if 30.000, OOO. 



BARLEY 

£2, 617,56 



CORH 

$7,52 6. OOO 



WOOL 

//, 371 . OOO- 



5HEEP 

$1,500, COO. 



BEEF CATTLE 

$23, 380, OOO. 



THE C OLORADO FARMER 15 hOT TIED TO QLLL CROP . 

Hl5 EH? JE- Af i 5 EXPERIEhCE HAS TAUGHT HIM^"~ 
IT 15 hOT SAFE , WISE NOR PROF)TAP>t F_ 




Plowing in the Montezuma Valley, near Mancos, Colorado 




WHY YOU SHOULD 
CHOOSE COLORADO 

CHAPTER I 

HE HOMESEEKER has come to consider all land litera- 
ture very much alike. Often he is bewildered with all 
the circulars, pamphlets and booklets he receives, and, 
since he can not afford to visit all the places therein 
described, what shall he do? 

Our answer would be, study the "farm facts" about 
those sections he is most interested in, and especially 
where markets, transportation, climate and pleasing envi- 
ronment, as well as fertile soil, seem most largely to 
prevail. We, therefore, desire to present specific good reasons for choosing 
Colorado in which to settle. 

First — Colorado is the first irrigation state one reaches on coming West. 
It is. therefore, nearer the commercial markets of the Mississippi Valley and 
the East than other Western irrigation states. Trunk transportation lines unite 
with state railroads in connecting Colorado farms with all leading markets for 
farm produce in the country. 

Second — One-third of the present population of the state live in the three 
foothill cities of the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains — Pueblo, Colorado 
Springs and Denver. These are centers to which thousands of tourists come 
in increasing numbers each year. Each visitor is a walking advertisement of 
Colorado's superb climate and magnificent scenery. Because of its scenic attrac- 
tions, great wildernesses still full of game, streams well stocked with trout, its 
large number of delightful lakes and parks, and its more than twenty-five times 
as many lofty mountain peaks than are found in the European Alps. Ex- 
President Roosevelt has called Colorado "The Playground of the Nation," and 
to the traveling public it has earned the name of "The Switzerland of America." 
These tourists add to the non-producing class who must be fed, and gives a 
most interesting and increasing home market to our farmers; it means several 
million dollars each year to the state. 

Third — Across the middle section of the state, from north to south, run the 
Rocky Mountains. Within these mountains are mines of coal, precious metals 
and quarries of granite, marble and other building stone, that give employment 
to fully 50,000 workers in mines, smelters, coke ovens and quarries. These 
workers, with their families, mean a population of more than 200,000 dependent 
upon the valley farms for food products. 

Fourth — The great power developments from mountain streams, and vast 
quantities of Colorado coal, have attracted many manufactories of importance, 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

6 

and the artisans required are increasing each year. These add materially to the 
number whom the Colorado farmer must feed. 

Fifth — The many industries of the state, each interdependent upon the 
other, make farming a leading occupation for a growing home market, which 
bids for varying and different food commodities. 

Sixth — It is not so much what a man raises that counts as what he sells. 
The climate in these higher altitudes gives keeping quality to fruits, vegetables, 
potatoes — in fact, all that he grows. This keeping quality is an asset that 
enables the Colorado farmer to market melons, potatoes, fruits and other farm 
produce in Chicago, St. Louis, New York and other markets at a premium, and, 
consequently, a profit. Various farm products associations are teaching him to 
put up these products in the manner the trade desires, and the quality, thus 
attractively displayed, enables the products to find ready sale. Why? Because 
they are good to eat. They are grown on a soil rich in mineral salts, in plenty 
of invigorating sunshine, with maximum growth from start to finish, through 
irrigation water, applied as needed. Such products take rank in the market 
over the same products which are dependent upon the vagaries of uncertain 
weather conditions for market quality. This is true not only in markets named, 
but in the general markets everywhere. People want quality, and are willing to 
pay for it when it can be obtained. When the market is bare of any product, 
anything will sell, but the best will bring the highest prices. If the market be 
full, then the best will always sell first. 




Grapes and Apples, an Orchard in the Canon City District 

In the great world's fairs of Europe and America, from the Chicago Colum- 
bian of 1893 down to date, Colorado farm products have received most meritori- 
ous recognition in medals, cups, ribbons and cash awards. This demonstrates 
the Colorado farmer's ability to grow quality in what his farm produces. 

Seventh — Colorado has a healthful, invigorating climate. Many thousands 
in lower and more humid climes receive from the "M. D." the prescription for 
renewed or restored health — "Go to Colorado." Many diseases common to most 
climates soon disappear in the bright sunshine and dry air of Colorado. Thus 
we see the climate that is desirable for plant growth is also beneficial to men 
and women. Science has shown that in these higher altitudes a greater number 
of red corpuscles appear, and the blood is, therefore, richer while the patient 
remains in this altitude. If this invigorates an ailing man or woman, what 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

_ _ 

must it do for a sound man? Fills him with energy, ambition and a desire to 
make the most of life! 

Colorado's greatest need is more farm homes — more tillers of her fertile 
lands. Therefore, because of her fertile lands, her healthy, invigorating climate, 
her good yielding, high-quality crops, and, because there is plenty of room and a 
great need of more farmers, homeseekers should settle in this commonwealth, 
where miner, manufacturer, tourist and city dweller depend upon the farm for 
good things to eat, and will give him a hearty welcome. 

CHAPTER II 

GETTING A HOME IN COLORADO 

Selecting the Land 

THERE are four sources of land in Colorado to which the homeseeker can 
turn his attention : ( 1 ) The subdivision or resale of land or farms 
already occupied and improved. (2) The opening of new tracts of land 
by irrigation, either by private parties or by the Government Reclamation 
Service. ( 3 ) Homestead entry of Government lands, or the purchase of Indian 
lands. (4) Purchase of Colorado state lands. 

The amount of capital required to take hold of a given area or tract of land 
under any one of these four ways of acquiring land is about the same. Colorado 
is not a new state — it has been settled for over thirty years. Time and experi- 
ence have demonstrated that the farm unit can be made too small as well as too 
large, under prevailing crop and market conditions, for the best and most per- 
manent success. It has also been found that, save in the vicinity of cities and 
towns, where local market consumption justifies intensive garden farming, ten 
acres is too small a farm unit, and that a one-crop standard is too hazardous. 
Diversity of crop and keeping of some form of livestock is more dependable and 
safe than putting the entire farm unit in any one crop, as fruit, or grain, or 
potatoes, no matter how favorable to this crop soil and climatic conditions may be. 




Colorado Farm Homes, Uncompahgre Valley — Prosperity and Contentment 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

8~~ 

Then, too, it has been found that land should be rated in price at just what 
that land will and can earn in crop returns for a period of five or ten years. 
The price one pays for the land represents the investment, and each year's crop 
return on this land is the income, which should run up to a profitable per cent 
return on the investment, after all cost of growing the crop and incidental 
expenses are deducted. The homeseeker must consider these to protect his 
future returns on the investment made. 

How to Seek a Location 

The most. satisfactory way is to come and see for yourself. Where possible, 
the man and his wife should both come. The man usually wants to study land 
contour (lay of land), fertility and depth of soil, seasons and market; the wife 
will usually want to know the environment into which the family is to be 
brought — school, social and church advantages. A man always desires to have 
his wife well pleased, and, therefore, her inventory of the home environment is 
just as essential as his inventory of possible sources of income. When man and 
wife mutually agree upon a selection, their interests will be mutual and entire 
satisfaction assured. 

The next factor is method of purchase. Time is very often limited, and, for 
this reason, the homeseeker can best be served through some established colon- 
ization agency, or a reputable and reliable real estate man. Every community 
in Colorado has some locations which, for certain purposes, are better than 
others. What may be best for one man may be undesirable for another man. 
It is always wise, in a new country, to get the best for your purposes, if price 
is at all reasonable, rather than the cheapest one can buy. 

Prices and Terms of Land 

The agricultural lands of Colorado lie all the way from 4,000 to 8,000 feet 
above sea level. Altitude very greatly affects climatic conditions, but sheltering 
buttes or hills, slope, and exposure and air currents, are also factors which must 
be considered as modifying the climate of any given locality. The range of crops 
will usually vary with the altitude, as it affects the summer temperature and 
the length of the growing season. The range of crops, with closeness of trans- 
portation, and source and cost of water supply for irrigation, usually regulates 
the price of land. An established and reputable real estate firm can best succeed 
when surrounded by pleased customers who have received a "square deal." For 
this reason the "land shark," who puts fictitious prices on lands to "beat" the 
unwary "tenderfoot," is finding it unhealthy for him to live in Colorado com- 
munities. Colorado people realize that these fictitious prices prove disastrous 
to a district by hampering farm success, and this always turns homeseekers 
away from a district. They, therefore, discountenance and discourage such 
sharp practice methods, which may line the pockets of the land broker, but will 
injure the community and retard settlement where such methods are followed. 
Public opinion frowns upon the man who preys upon the earnest homeseeker, 



Sagebrush Land Ready for the Plow — Plenty of Water for Irrigation — Montezuma Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

_ 

while it commends the one who handles land on legitimate business methods, 
with fair prices, and really works for the permanent development of his com- 
munity or district. 

Lands with a good water right sell from $40 to $1,200 and $1,500 per acre, 
varying with location, character, and amount of improvements. 

Truck crop and fruit lands are the highest priced lands. 

Good general farming land will cost from $50 to $200 per acre. 

A farm unit of general farm land varies from eighty acres to a quarter 
section. 

A stock farm or ranch, 320 acres to several thousand acres. 

A garden or fruit farm unit must be regulated, not by its area, but the 
income one can safely count upon from same. 

A family of five should have, above all expense of growing the crop, an 
annual net return of $1,200 to $2,000. A sufficient acreage should be chosen to 
render this return, one year with another, on a six-year average. 

In the past, some settlers have chosen too small a farm unit, and have thus 
been unable to get a dependable maintenance income return. This must be most 
carefully considered from every angle to prevent the possibility of an income 
shortage. 

The terms granted are usually one-fourth to one-half down, and the rest 
distributed in installments, which a diligent farmer will be able to meet from 
his yearly crop returns. A reasonable discount is usually allowed for full cash 





^ 



A Homestead on a National Forest Reserve, in Custer County, Colorado 

payment down. There are some communities in Colorado where but a very 
small cash payment is required, but the buyer must have sufficient means to 
start farming on a reasonable scale. 

Cost of Getting Started 

It takes some cash capital to start in the farming business in Colorado. 
One should have at least a sufficient amount to make a payment down on farm 
selected, stock said farm with teams and tools necessary for effective work, and 
have a sufficient sum to feed and clothe the family until a crop can be grown, 
harvested and marketed. 

The climate is a most enjoyable one, and in all the farming districts of the 
state severe, continued cold weather is conspicuous by its absence. If the ther- 
mometer drops down to zero or below, it is but for a day or two at a time, and 
the dryness of the air robs the cold of its sting and penetrating effect felt in a 
more moist climate at lower altitudes. Therefore, there is less need of house- 
room and large barns than in those sections where Eastern blizzards prevail, 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



10 

and one must build to shut out their saturated cold, that seems to "fill the air" 
and filters through all but the most tightly constructed buildings. A four to 
six room house is adequate for the average Colorado farm home, and feeding in 
the open lot is practiced throughout the winter months in all parts of Colorado. 
One hotel, in a horse and cattle ranch district, at 8,000 feet elevation, advertises 
a free meal to every guest of the hotel for every day the sun fails to shine, 
throughout the year. For the last several years the record shows but one day 
each year when the sun did not shine. This makes the winters of Colorado 
more pleasant and endurable, and does not necessitate the building of barns to 
house all one's stock, as must be done in many sections "back East." 

A good windbreak in winter, with roof to keep out snow and give a dry 
place for stock to stand or lie down, is the customary shelter for cattle and 
sheepj with barn to house teams and feed. The building material may be brick, 
concrete, cement blocks or lumber. There is scarcely any place but where gravel 
and sand satisfactory for building purposes may be found, and the settler can 
erect his buildings at reasonable prices. 

The man who comes with a few thousand dollars and plenty of grit, grace 
and gumption, is bound to succeed in Colorado. Good labor is always in 
demand in the field, on the range, or in the mines. This diversity of industries 
in Colorado, so rich in natural resources, proves a real asset to the man of 
small capital. There is always work to do somewhere, at good wages, that 
helps out when capital runs low. Many a man in the rich valleys of the 
Western Slope, now the proud possessor of a productive farm, with a satisfying 
income, "worked out" for others while getting started on his own place. If a 
man of even small means will come into any Colorado community, with a fixed 
purpose to do intelligent, earnest, persistent work, he is sure to succeed, and 
this man and his family need never want for food, shelter or clothing while 
getting established. It is men and women who are at a premium in this state, 
and who are needed to settle these fertile lands and develop the farm resources 
of the commonwealth. Many a tenant farmer "back East" has enough money 
in surplus stock, implements and working capital, to come to Colorado, get 
land on terms he can meet, and which will pay double the profits the Eastern 
farm is paying. He can live out here as a landowner just as reasonably as he 
lives back there as a renter. In a few years he is independent and most com- 
fortably situated. 

Persistency in Colorado, well directed, means progress and prosperity. 
Come out and prove the truth of this assertion in your own personal experience. 




Harvesting Oats in Animas Valley, near Durango 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

____ _ — - — jj 

CHAPTER III 

SOIL THE FOUNDATION OF FARM SUCCESS 

Colorado Soil is Fed by Mountain Disintegration 

FROM the soil we obtain our food and clothing. Cotton is a direct soil 
product. The production of wool depends upon the raising of sheep ; sheep 

raising is directly dependent upon the soil products for feed. We can, 
therefore, truthfully say that land is our greatest fundamental resource, and 
the productivity of the soil the index of the prosperity, growth and progress of 
our commonwealth, or even of our nation. 

Soil, when rightly used, through the agency of plant life, chemical reaction 
of liquids and gases within and without it, together with the disintegration of 
the rocks, has the possibility of almost infinite renewal. Like a financial bank, 
it must have deposits from time to time to validate checks and drafts drawn 
upon it. Right use of soils will constantly renew and render them better year 
by year. The question of soil is an important and determining factor in the 
crop success of every farm. 

Origin of Our Western Soils 

Practically all the soils of the Rocky Mountain region are of granite origin — 
that is, they were formed and are being renewed largely from the weathering 




Raw Land Awaiting the Settler in the Grand River Valley 

and disintegration of granite, the prevailing type of our mountain tocks. 
Across central Colorado run the ranges of the Rocky Mountains from north to 
south. Many peaks reach nearly three miles above sea level — great upheavals 
of Nature that catch and hold masses of snow. These ranges are recognized as 
the greatest watershed on the continent. In these Colorado ranges are the 
source waters of four great river systems: North and South Platte, of the 
Platte-Missouri on the northeast, the Arkansas on the southeast, Rio Grande 
on the south, and Colorado on the west. These rivers, in countless ages, have 
cut great canons or gorges, wearing away and eroding the granites, quartzites 
and lavas, cutting their way through mineral beds thrown up in the great 
creative agony that gave birth to the Rocky Mountains. Through unknown 
periods of time Nature has been reducing boulders to "rock meal," and from 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

12 ' ~~~~" -—— — —————— 

these larger pieces, through the weathering processes, still further reductions 
have been made, separating into mineral elements that feed plant life. 

Granite is composed of quartz, feldspar and mica. The quartz, through dis- 
integration and Nature's grinding process, forms the sand; feldspar and mica 
yield clay. Close to the foothills the mica is plainly visible in shining particles 
all through the surface clay. The finer transported particles from hillsides, beds 
of streams and irrigation canals, make up the third essential physical element of 
a perfect soil — silt. Here we find the origin of soil elements — silt, clay and sand. 

The fertility of any soil is shown by the presence of seven elements, which 
the chemist has found. These seven essentials are: calcium, iron, magnesium, 
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur. Iron, magnesium and sulphur 
are so generally found in all Colorado soils that the farmer need never be con- 
cerned about them. Analyses of soils in various parts of Colorado show an 
abundance of lime (an available form of calcium), phosphates and potash. The 
one mineral that Nature has given in sparing quantities is nitrogen. 

After Nature enriched these soils of the Colorado mesas and mountain 
valleys, she prevented their being leached out by withholding drenching rains, 
and the farmer who now plows up his sagebrush lands has virgin soil posses- 
sing all its original stock of mineral elements. By making legumes — alfalfa, 
clover, beans, peas, etc. — a major crop early in his farming operations, he 
brings the one element which these soils lack into his surface soil. Legumes 
have the peculiar property of drawing the nitrogen from the air and storing 
it in the soil for the benefit of succeeding crops. The fundamental difference 
between soils of the humid and arid regions was clearly and most interestingly 
shown by Dr. E. W. Hilgard at a recent world's fair. He exhibited sections of 
soils in glass tubes from upland Eastern lands and bench or mesa lands of the 
West. He quite aptly stated that, from these showings, a farmer in the arid 
regions of the West owns three to four farms, one above the other, as compared 
with the same acreage in the Eastern states in the humid section. 

The crop value of Colorado soil can scarcely be over-estimated. In but few 
places in the nation has Nature been so prodigal in the bestowal of the elements 
which go to make up a fertile soil, and in no place has she given a more perfect 
blending and preparation for the farmer. The value of this soil asset is quite 
clearly and tersely given by President Van Hise, of the University of Wisconsin, 
in the following words : "The surface layer of soil manufactured by the proc- 
esses of Nature through millions of years is the mosf precious natural resource 
of the nation. Of all our duties to our descendants, that of maintaining the 
soil unimpaired in thickness and in richness is the most serious." Preservation 
and intelligent economic use of the soil will prevent disaster, keep back the 
necessity of food importation, and insure prosperity and progress. 

Colorado Sunshine an Asset 

Plants, fruits and vegetables make their best and quickest growth in sun- 
shine. Weather records for a term of years show more than 300 days of sun- 
shine every year in Colorado. The roots find the nutriment in fertile soil, the 
sap carries it to the leaves above, and the sunshine fixes it in permanent form. 
The chemical action of light is measured by the effect on a photographic plate. 
All amateur photographers coming to Colorado overexpose their pictures — let 
in too much light. It takes only half the time to make a "snapshot" in Colorado. 
This means that there is not only more sunshine in Colorado, but it is brighter 
sunshine. The chemical energy which the sun is pouring into plants and fruits, 
and men and women, is doubled in Colorado. The sun shines twice as much, 
and does twice as much good when it does shine. That is why, on her soil, 
Colorado's crops grow fast and attain high quality. 

Cool Nights and Dry Air Desirable 

In the humid East and South, after a hot day comes a hot night. The 
earth is bathed in steam; the air is motionless. In Colorado, when the sun 
goes down the thermometer drops ten, fifteen, twenty, and sometimes thirty 
degrees. Plants quit growing. Weary workers can sleep in comfort the whole 
night through. All Nature rests. The firmness and juiciness of Colorado fruit 
are due, in large measure, to these cool nights. Regions where nights are warm 
and moist can not produce the crispness, firmness and flavor noticeable in Colo- 
rado fruits, vegetables and potatoes. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

o 

Colorado's dry air is also an aid to plant growth, when the ground has a 
sufficient amount of moisture, which irrigation supplies. The roots pick up the 
food materials in a watery solution, through the root hairs ; by the sap circula- 
tion this nutriment is carried to the leaves — the laboratories for working up 
food particles ready for the plant's use — and this sap is quickly evaporated by 
the leaves, leaving the solid particles only for the plant's use. In a more humid 
climate this sap is thrown off much more slowly. In Colorado's drier atmos- 
phere this surplus water is taken up rapidly, and a flow of sap is thereby 
stimulated, so growth is much more rapid. 

Thus we see dry air, cool nights, much sunshine, and fertile, unleached soil, 
are all natural conditions upon which the energetic farmer can build crop success. 

CHAPTER IV 

FUNDAMENTALS IN IRRIGATION 

Getting "Rain" when You Need It 

IN the practice of irrigation farming, there are certain fundamental terms 
which are commonly used in the West, that need to be fully comprehended 
by each new settler planning to farm "under the ditch." These are usually 
defined in terms well known to the engineer, but not always comprehended by 
the farmer. The writer has endeavored to give this information in well under- 
stood terms. 

Water Right. A water right is a legal right to divert water from a 
stream, reservoir or canal, to crop land for irrigation purposes. The Spanish 
conquerors in the sixteenth century found the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande 
practicing irrigation farming and cropping the valley in a most creditable 
manner. Here irrigation and appropriation, as it were, go hand in hand, and 
we can safely assume that this doctrine was acted upon by the ancients. Article 
XIII, of the Colorado State Constitution, adopted in 1876, clearly sets forth 
this right of appropriation in Section 5, which reads as follows: "The water of 




Irrigating a Recently Planted Orchard in the Canon City District 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

14 

every natural stream not heretofore appropriated, within the State of Colorado, 
is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and is dedicated to the use 
of the people of the state, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided." 

Priority Rights. The first appropriator of the water of a natural stream 
has a prior or first right to such water, to the extent of his appropriation. All 
water rights possess appropriation in order of date of decree. Therefore, the 
right with the first decree is said to have priority over all others, and must be 
recognized as first claim to irrigation water from the source stream, canal or 
reservoir, when adjudicated, as its decree shall name, for full amount of said 
decree. Early priorities are quite valuable and add to the commercial value of 
a water right. 

Kinds of Water Rights. There are two kinds of water rights — direct 
and storage. 

A direct water right gives the owner of same authority for "direct use" of 
water from source stream or canal. 

A storage water right gives legal authority for impounding water in reser- 
voirs as a storage supply for use as may be desired. 

When the runoff of any given stream is above normal, it is called "flood" or 
"excess water." It may be caused by the rapid melting of mountain snows 
feeding the stream, or excessive rains within the watershed above, or both. 
This means high water in the stream, and recent appropriations for storage or 
reservoir purposes often specify "flood water appropriations." Flood waters, 
however, can not be taken until all prior appropriations are supplied. The 
regularity of the flood or high water runoff of a given stream usually deter- 
mines the commercial value of these flood water rights. 

Units of Water Measurements 

1. "Miner's Inch." This is our oldest unit, first used by the placer 
miner. The General Statutes of Colorado, 1883, define the following method for 
measuring an inch of water : "Every inch shall be considered equal to an inch 
orifice under a five-inch pressure, and a five-inch pressure shall be from the top 
of the orifice ( opening ) of the box, put into the banks of the ditch, to the sur- 
face of the water; said boxes, or any slot or aperture through which such water 
may be measured, shall in all cases be six inches perpendicular, inside measure- 
ment, except boxes delivering less than twelve inches, which shall be square with 
or without slides ; all slides for the same shall move horizontally, and not other- 
wise; and said box put into the banks of ditch shall have a descending grade 
from the water in the ditch of not less than one-eighth of an inch to the foot." 

Most states, like Colorado, have statute regulation on the inch measure- 
ment, and, therefore, this measurement is also known as the "statute inch." 
The "statute inch" is not the same in all states, and, as it is only used for 
measuring small quantities of water, and is not readily reduced to terms of the 
other units, it is not in such general use as the other terms. 

2. Cubic Foot Per Second. The cubic foot per second, or "second foot," 
is the unit of volume used for gauging rivers, and measuring the flow of ditches 
and irrigating canals. This "second foot" is the standard unit for flowing or 
running water in Colorado and most of the Western states. It is a solid or 
cnbic foot of water moving twelve inches (a lineal foot) in one second of time. 

3. Acre Foot of Water. An acre foot of water is the amount of water 
necessary to cover an acre of land one foot, or twelve inches, deep. It is the 
unit used for measuring storage or reservoir water. A second foot of water, 
running constantly twenty-four hours and twelve minutes, delivers two acre 
feet, or sufficient water to cover an acre of ground with water two feet deep. 

Definition of a Weir. A weir is a measuring device for determining the 
flow of water in a given time for a given distance. It can only properly be used 
for strictures designed to permit water to flow over the crest with a good fall 
on the down-stream side. 

State Engineer. To protect the rights of water users, and to supervise 
the distribution of irrigation waters, the Western states have created the office 
of "State Engineer." The State Engineer of Colorado has divided the state 
into water divisions, the boundaries of which are determined by drainage lines. 
Each division is divided into districts in such manner as shall make the distri- 
bution of irrigation water most efficient. Each district has its water commis- 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__ ___ _____ __ 

sioner. He has direct charge of regulating headgates, so the water shall be 
equitably distributed among those having water rights for same. Ditch owners 
are required to install measuring devices, and the various water companies of a 
district have a water superintendent. The water commissioner closes all gates, 
according to decreed rights, in time of water shortage, and it is a criminal 
offense to change a headgate when once set by the water commissioner. The 
water superintendent looks after the maintenance, repair and cleaning of main 
canals, ditches and laterals which lead to the irrigated lands of patrons of his 




A "Ditch Rider" Measuring the Flow of an Irrigation Ditch — Gunnison Tunnel 

Reclamation Project 

company. He also employs water measurers, commonly known as "ditch 
riders," to measure out to individual users their amount of water at the head- 
gate of the lateral which controls the irrigation of that individual's land. 
These ditch riders, in turn, receive their water from the district water commis- 
sioner, who turns the water in from the source stream. 

Duty of Water. The duty of water refers to the amount of land a given 
quantity of water will irrigate for maximum crop results. This will vary with 
the character of the soil, the kind of crop grown, and the individual farmer. 
In one locality, for the first few years, a second foot of water was used on sixty 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

16 — ~~ '~~ 

to eighty acres. After the ground had been irrigated a number of years, that 
second foot of water averaged for all crops over 100 acres, and for grain crops 
the duty of water was increased to 160 acres. The more porous the soil, usually 
the more water required. The method of irrigation must vary with the charac- 
ter of soil, slope of land, and crop planted. This the new settler can very 
easily acquire from experienced farmers now on the land in the community. 

Irrigation Not Difficult to Learn 

Irrigation is based upon a few principles that one can easily learn from his 
neighbors when he comes into a region where irrigation is practiced. Grain 
crops seldom require more than two applications of water — often only one. But 
very few crops require more than three applications of water in any given season. 

William O'Brien, superintendent of the Colorado Agricultural College 
Farm, often says, give him an Eastern man anxious to learn, and in three days' 
time he can make a good irrigator of him — one who can handle his "head of 
water" with ease and certainty. 

The most essential element of crop success here, as well as elsewhere, is a 
resourceful, intelligent, painstaking farmer. With land well prepared, practice 
will bring efficiency in water distribution, and the settler can turn on the water 
when the crops need it. This is the surest method of crop production in the West. 

Crop Yields in Colorado 

What yields can one expect? 

To answer this question the following table has been compiled: 

Crops Under Irrigation 

Yield Competent Possible but 

Men May Extraordinary 

CROP A Safe Estimate Hope to Obtain Yields 

Wheat, bushels 25 40 50 

Oats, bushels 40 75 120 

Barley, bushels 40 80 100 

Alfalfa, tons 4 5 6 

Grain hay, tons 1 Yz 2 3 

Potatoes, bushels 175 250 500 

Sugar beets, tons 12 15 30 

Onions, sacks : 125 150 350 

Pea forage, tons 2 3 4 

Peas (threshed), bushels 20 25 50 

Beans, bushels 25 30 40 




Irrigating an Orchard — Plain Common Sense and a Spade all that is Necessary 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__ _ ___ ____ _ _ _ __ 

Keeping the land in good tilth and fertility, under good farming methods, 
should give returns equal to or above those shown in the second column. Under 
the best farm conditions, a few of our best Colorado farmers have obtained, in 
certain years, the yields shown in the third column. This shows the possibili- 
ties of good farming under irrigation. 

Benefits and Quality Production 

Water can be supplied to an irrigation farm just as a given crop shall 
require to produce the very finest quality obtainable. Through this means, 
quality and flavor are given irrigated fruits, because of the abundant iron, 
potash and other mineral salts, and the incomparable sunshine adds the 
alchemist's touch, which puts the bloom and color on fruit that delights the 
eye and makes the mouth "water" for it. 

No celery is equal to irrigated celery for succulence or flavor, because, 
from germination to maturity, it has a maximum growth. Potatoes, if prop- 
erly watered, have the same advantage of quality, and need never be "soggy" 
nor "off flavor," while grain and forage can be matured uniformly and in ideal 
condition, for the farmer controls his amount of moisture and its distribution, 
as he is his own rainmaker. Only when untimely rains occur in the growing 
period is he at all uncertain as to the quality of his harvests; Irrigation 
farming, when properly done, gives definite results, and makes systematic 
farming indeed possible. 




A. Great Wheat Harvest in the Arkansas Valley, near Pueblo 

CHAPTER V 

FRUIT RAISING IN COLORADO 

Famous for High Quality 

COLORADO produced the first irrigated fruit in the West. It was in the 
foothills adjacent to Denver that the first fruitful orchard was observed. 
Commercial orcharding has attained its highest degree of production in 
the Canon City District and the valleys of the Western Slope. For fully a 
quarter of a century Colorado has been demonstrating what size, quality and 
flavor may be obtained through the combination of sunshine, fertile soil and 
moisture control. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

18 " — — 

Apples the Standard 

The apple is the great staple fruit of Colorado. It is grown on both the 
Eastern and Western Slopes of the mountains, and up to 7,000 feet elevation. 
The Colorado farmer has found that it is never wise to plant his entire holding 
to one variety of fruit, or, indeed, to any fruit exclusively, good as the quality 
may prove to be. Certain types of apples do well in one district owing to slope, 
soil, altitude and sheltering buttes. In other districts other types do especially 
well. A few carefully chosen varieties that have a commercial rating should 
be chosen, rather than a great variety. The market must be considered, and 
the types it favors should be grown in carload lots. Farmers are organized 
into fruit growers' associations, and these favor the following as leaders in the 
apple market: 

1. Jonathan. 

2. Rome Beauty. 

3. White Winter Pearmain. 

4. Winesap and Stamen Winesap. 

5. Grimes Golden. 

6. Gano. 

7. Arkansas Black. 

No commercial orchard should have more than two to three types of apples 
which will do exceptionally well in that particular district. Officers of the 
local fruit association, or commercial shippers from that district, should be 
consulted before purchasing an orchard or planting a new one. 

Apple Production 

The figures of the United States Department of Agriculture on apple pro- 
duction, from 1895 to 1914, are as follows: 

Total Crop Market Demand Surplus Deficiency 

Year Barrels Barrels Barrels Barrels 

1895 59,000,000 45,000,000 14,000,000 

1896 68,000,000 48,000,000 20,000,000 

1897 42,000,000 50,000,000 8,000,000 

1898 22,500,000 50,000,000 27,500,000 

1899 38,000,000 50,000,000 12,000,000 

1900 47,500,000 52,000,000 4,500,000 

1901 27,500,000 52,000,000 24,500,000 

1902 45,000,000 53,000,000 8,000,000 




A 200-Acre Orchard near Cory — Jonathan Trees in the Foreground 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

_ _ _ _ ___ 19 

Total Crop Market Demand Surplus Deficiency 

Year Barrels Barrels Barrels Barrels 

1903 44,000,000 53,000,000 9,000,000 

1904 44,000,000 53,000,000 9,000,000 

1905 24,000,000 53,000,000 29,000,000 

1906 35,500,000 54,000,000 18,500,000 

1907 25,000,000 54,000,000 29,000,000 

1908 24,500,000 55,000,000 30,500,000 

1909 27,000,000 55,000,000 28,000,000 

1910 26,000,000 55,000,000 29,000,000 

1911 (Data not available.) 

1912 42,767,727 55,000,000 12,232,273 

1913 26,438,000 55,000,000 28,562,000 

1914 38,236,300 45,000,000 6,763,700 

There have only been two years in the last seventeen when the supply of 
apples approached the demand — 1900 and 1914. The war in Europe, cutting 
off export to European countries, and the exceptionally large fruit crop all over 
the country in 1914, more nearly supplied the domestic demand than any time 
since 1900. 

The National Pure Food Law has caused an increased demand for apples 
for cider vinegar. Previous to this time, much so-called "cider vinegar" came 
from the dilution of acetic acid. Today several million barrels of apples go 
to the cider press, the evaporating plant, and other by-product methods of 
economic use. 

The former prejudice against the use of apples from irrigated orchards is 
now overcome, and the apples of the West and Northwest are found commanding 
a premium on the markets of St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Boston and Con- 
tinental Europe. Colorado apples have been shipped to Australia, Europe and 
South Africa, and arrived in most excellent condition, due to their keeping 
qualities. 

Peaches 

Many valley districts have produced most excellent types of peaches. 
While the Alexander is an early peach, the Elberta is the queen of Colorado 
peaches. In color, size and flavor, it is unexcelled in many districts of the 




Pear Trees in Bloom — Grand Junction District 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



20 




Irrigating a Prune Orchard — Uncompahgre Valley 

slate. The peach has harder competition than the apple, and, since it is a 
perishable fruit, it has to take the current price when it reaches the market. 
Therefore, evaporators and canneries are necessary to make the peach crop a 
standard and reliable crop to grow. Peach trees come into profitable bearing 
in three to four years, and there are orchards still standing with trees twenty 
or more years old. 

Pears in Colorado 

In altitudes below 5,000 feet, where soils are deep, comparatively heavy and 
well drained, pears are found to do remarkably well. Pear blight has swept the 
country almost from end to end. It is no stranger to Colorado. Our orchardists 
find viligant action and our climate helpful in combating its ravages, and they 
have this dread disease well in control. It has been found that the Colorado 
pear season begins just at the close of the Pacific Coast season, and, when the 
product is well graded and carefully packed, it has an advantage on the market 
which at this time it can fairly well command. The Bartlett, Anjon and Kieffer 
pears are the commercial types now grown. The latter lacks quality, but is a 
heavy cropper. The lower Grand Valley, in the Grand Junction District, has 
the largest pear acreage of any one region in the state. 

Prune and Grape Culture 

Commercial prunes are being grown in but few places near Montrose and 
restricted districts in the Grand Valley. The "Italian" is the principal com- 
mercial prune. 

Many sections are growing grapes quite successfully to the full extent of 
the local demand. Well known American varieties and some few European table 
grapes are being successfully ripened in family orchards. The grape showing 
Irom Grand Valley at the Colorado State Fair, in 1914, was a credit to any 
state growing grapes on a commercial scale. County Agriculturist William 
Harrison, of Mesa County, had in its exhibit some ten varieties that were the 
most attractive showing in the Horticultural Department. It demonstrates the 
possibilities of grape culture in our climate. So far, however, the crop has not 
been a commercial success. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

Small Fruits and What They Will Do 

The home markets of Colorado are not nearly supplied with the demand for 
small fruits from our home farms. The shipping into nearby mining camps or 
resort towns return good profits to the grower. Denver, Colorado Springs and 
Pueblo are nearly always importing berries. Colorado can produce a strawberry 
in size, flavor and color that is a delight, and it is as good as it looks to be. A 
well cared for strawberry bed of a half to two or three acres returns its owner 
a good revenue, if he gives it any attention whatever; $200 to $400, and even 
$500 worth of berries have been taken from a single acre. The higher altitudes, 
with their berries ripening the latter part of July to the first of August, have 
a market all their own. 

Dewberries grow in some sections to perfection. Especially is this true of 
the Plateau Valley on the Western Slope. This berry, to do its best, must have 
particular conditions as to climate, moisture and ripening season. For this 
reason few regions in the rain belt know this berry commercially. The Lucretia 
is one of the favorite Colorado types of the dewberry. 






Orchard Heaters Guarding Against an Early Frost 

While currants and gooseberries do well here and grow to be of good size, 
the difficulty and expense of harvesting the crop prevents many from growing 
these home berries commercially. 

Cherries are grown in practically all parts of Colorado. The cherry, as 
grown under irrigation, like the peach and the apple, has a color and size that 
makes it quite attractive. The canning industry will demand an increasing 
acreage of this crop and make it of even greater commercial importance than it 
is now. Present demand is fully equal to the supply of this fruit. Its season is 
short, and scarcity of pickers at that season of the year has kept down the acre- 
age given to this fruit. 

Orchard Heaters 

Some valleys, where spring comes early and brings out early buds, followed 
by a late spring freeze or cold wave, find orchard heaters a means of keeping 
the temperature above the danger point. These cold waves are not limited 
alone to Colorado valleys, but they have extended over the fruit belts of the 
United States, even down into the citrus fruit belts of California, and some- 
times Florida. They usually do most serious damage. In 1908 a few enter- 
prising men, scattered over the fruit territory of the state, determined to try 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



22 

orchard heaters, or "smudge pots," with which to fight these spring "cold 
waves," that do the damage to the fruit crop. That year an early spring was 
followed by an April cold wave. Where these men used the heaters, the crop 
was saved. In orchards where not used, serious damage was done by the cold 
wave. In the spring of 1909 one of the coldest "snaps" in twenty-five years 
prevailed in the fruit district. The use of the orchard heater was decided so 
effective that many fruit men installed this plan of fighting "Jack Frost." 

Two types of heaters are in general use — coal burners and oil burners. The 
coal heaters are sheetiron or wire baskets. A knot of waste, soaked in oil, is in 
the bottom. Over this a supply of dry wood, and on top eight to ten pounds of 
coal. When the alarm of falling temperature comes to the orchardist, he lights 
the oil-soaked waste, and in a few minutes the whole mass of coal is glowing, 
radiating a large amount of heat, while the smoke, rising into the upper 
branches of the trees, acts as a blanket, preventing radiation and holding the 
major portion of the heat. 

The oil heaters are of various patterns, ranging from a mere sheetiron 
bucket, about the size of a ten-pound lard pail, up to complicated Argand 
burners. The cost of equipping an orchard with heaters, including a year's 
supply of fuel, ranges from $25 to $45 an acre. Once equipped, the heaters, 
with proper care, will last indefinitely, and the average cost of fuel and labor 
rarely need exceed $5 per acre per annum. Some orchardists use brush, old hay 
and strawy manure to smudge with, and get results. If the orchard temper- 
ature can be maintained just a few degrees above surrounding atmosphere, it 
may mean the difference between crop success and crop loss. The air currents 
and violent winds will defeat the smudge work ofttimes, but usually at this 
season it is a "still night" in Colorado, and it is near the hour of dawn that 
the most damage is done. The United States Weather Bureau has been of very 
great help in notifying the district with frost predictions. 

Fruit Associations Helpful 

Marketing fruit through fruit growers' associations makes possible that 
marketing system which looks after every detail that works to the advantage 
of grower and consumer alike. It enables the grower to give all his time to the 
study of his natural conditions for producing, under wise care and culture, the 
best fruit in quality and color it is possible for him to produce. These associa- 
tions take the farmer's fruit, giving him a number, which identifies his fruit 
throughout the shipping season. This has made car lots the unit of practically 
ninety per cent of the fruit shipments. 




Copyright, 1910. V. E. Dean 
Buildings of the Grand Junction Fruit Growers' Association at Palisade 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



23 



r 




A Type of Hereford that Colorado Can Well Be Proud Of 



CHAPTER VI 

LIVESTOCK IN COLORADO 

Every Farmer Should Raise Some Livestock 

THE greatest agricultural resource in Colorado, since the settlement of 
the state, has been her livestock. In Colorado there will always be mil- 
lions of acres of native pasture land in foothill regions not suitable for 
agricultural purposes, but which carry a wealth of nutritious grasses. Professor 
H. G. Knight, director of the Wyoming Experiment Station, has found that the 
high altitude native grasses have a feeding value, determined by tests in his 
laboratory, pound for pound, equal to bran. Thus we see these mountainsides, 
above the agricultural lands, are made useful in the livestock industry. The 
grass within forest reserves is under supervision of the forest supervisor, who 
grants grazing permits only to the amount of stock which can be maintained in 
good condition and without impairing the native pasture. In this way a per- 
manent and good range, for a limited number of head, is being maintained on 
the Government reserves of the state. A stockman, thoroughly familiar 
with the whole West and Northwest, in going through southwest Colorado, 



W 3 **! 




tfcia -1 




'The Roundup" — In the Cattle Country North of Rifle 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

24 """" ~ " " ~~ ~ 

remarked in the summer of 1914: 
"I have been used to a cattle coun- 
try, and feel I know a good range 
when I see it. This whole region 
surpasses anything for summer 
range that I have ever seen." The 
winter range in former years was 
in the valleys lower down, now 
taken up largely by farms. These 
farms are, therefore, called upon 
to furnish the forage for winter 
feeding. This has demonstrated a 
growing market in the livestock 
for all the roughage or feed crops 
of the valley farms. This not only 
markets, on the farm, the cheaper feed crops, but, at the same time, it gives a 
fertilizer essential to soil maintenance, enriching both farm and farmer. Thus 
we see livestock utilize the grass growing on fully sixty per cent of the state's 
land, turning this into meat products now becoming more valuable year by 
year, and gives the soil barnyard manure to keep up its virgin fertility. There- 
fore, the past has taught us that some form of livestock should be kept on 
every farm in Colorado. 

On the fruit or truck farm, poultry helps fight insect pests, and hogs con- 
vert what would otherwise be farm wastes into pork. On the larger farms, the 
dairy cow, hogs, sheep and cattle give the most profitable market the farmer 
can obtain for the major farm crops. 




A Bunch of Thoroughbreds Raised 
in the Paradox Valley 



Beef in Colorado 

In all the country there are more beef-eaters, but less beef to go around. 
There are today nearly 7,000,000 less beef cattle in the United States than in 
1910, and fully 7,000,000 increase in our population. Beef has recently sold at 
10 cents a pound grass fat, from the range. It is certainly an encouragement »o 
Western farmers to convert their grains and grasses into beef products. The 
quality of Colorado cattle is shown in the ribbons which they win in the West- 
ern Stock Show at Denver and the International Livestock Shows at Chicago, 
competing with the best stock grown in the nation. 




A Dairy Herd in Montrose County 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

25 

Horses in Colorado 

Sound bone, lung capacity and endurance are natural to horses bred in 
Colorado. These are essential qualities wanted in the horse used on city drays 
and in heavy farm work everywhere. While the auto has, to a large extent, 
taken the place of certain light carriage horses,' it 1 has but served to emphasize 
the real value of the draft horse, and has by no means displaced him. Size 
comes from breeding and ample feeding. Quality of bone, muscle, tendon and 
nerve fibre come from the influence of breeding, soil, climate, altitude and other 
environmental influences. We have in Colorado abundance of feed and favor- 
able environments. The necessary good blood is here, but more is desirable. 
Few farmers have the money to go into the horse-breeding business. They can, 
however, use brood mares to do their farm work. The mothers will be "out of 
commission" but for a short period of the year, and, for this vacation period 
from farm work, will give the owner profitable returns in the colt crop produced. 

The Dairy Cow 

The "tin cow" is a popular one in Colorado mining camps. The use of 
evaporated or condensed milk is quite universal in the mountain camps. Within 
adjacent valleys the mountain dairy can be made to furnish from each valley 
farm a quality of milk, cream and butter second to none in the land. Here is a 
wealth of forage most desirable for the cow, and pure, sparkling mountain 
water. The climate is favorable for dairying and the markets close at hand. 
The demand for milk, butter and cheese is constant, and will not soon be sup- 
plied by the home market. Tons and tons of dairy products are now shipped in 
from the outside to meet our home demands. No animal upon the farm pays 
such returns for its keep as the dairy cow. One must be sure he has the profit- 
able kind, for ofttimes a grade or scrub cow will be a family "boarder," living 
off from the farmer instead of providing for the family. A Babcock tester and 
a pair of scales will enable the farmer to weed out all unprofitable cows from 
his herd. A good dairy cow gives her owner a constant payroll. 

Sheep 

The sheep industry is of growing importance to Colorado. Sheep spoil a 
range for cattle. For that reason a tacit understanding, agreeable to the cattle- 
men, sheepmen and forest supervisors, has proportioned off the open range and 
giazing areas in Forest Reserves, so sheep have their share of native pasture to 
themselves year by year. This prevents any "wordy misunderstandings." The 
sheep usually take the higher ranges and in segregated areas apart from cattle. 




A Herding Scene on Horsefly Mesa — Upper Uncompahgre Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 




Getting Ready for Market 



26 

Sheep feed not only on grass, but 
on the white sage, shadscale and 
other forage not suitable for cattle. 
Flockmasters who may not have 
irrigated lands on the mesas or 
in the valleys, find ready sale to 
farmers, who have learned the 
value of sheep to clean up grain 
fields, beet fields, and rid the farm 
of weeds. Sheep are the best farm 
scavengers a farmer can keep. The 
San Luis farmers find their field 
pea crop fattens lambs so well that 
over 200,000 lambs are fed each 
winter in this one valley, and the 
markets everywhere recognize the superior flavor of the "San Luis Valley Pea- 
Fed Lamb." Other sections where peas are not so well grown use beet tops, 
alfalfa and Colorado grains to finish lambs for the market. 

750,000 Lambs Fed Each Year 

The Colorado feed yards use from a few hundred to a thousand or more per 
farm each winter, and aggregate three-quarters of a million lambs for the state. 
Thus far Colorado flockmasters have not been able to fill the orders for winter 
lamb feeders, and New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have had to supplement each 
fall the number of lambs Colorado ranges could furnish. Old ewes, with broken 
mouths or teeth worn down, have been converted into mutton through the feed- 
ing of beet pulp, supplemented with alfalfa and cracked grain. Beet pulp is 
what is left of the beet after the sugar is extracted. It contains quite a per- 
centage of nutritive food, and the fifteen sugar factories of the state send this 
pulp by the carload to feed lots on adjacent farms at a nominal price — 25 to 35 
cents per ton — where it is used in fattening both sheep and cattle. In fact, at 
each factory large numbers of cattle or sheep are fed in yards provided for same. 

The Hog Industry 

No type of livestock makes quicker returns on money invested than does 
the hog. Colorado climate and Colorado feeds enable our farmers to produce 
hogs cheaper than in the corn belt and in the great hog-producing states. Any 








Feeding Sheep near Olathe, Montrose County 




I 

o 



a 

id 

< 



W 



3 



o 

K 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__ ___ _ _ _ - _____ „ _____ ___ 

farmer who will determine on a definite breed, and put $100 or more in tlie 
business purchasing good sows, can quickly get into the industry. The new 
settler should start in a small way and grow into the business. While cholera 
and other diseases to which the hog seems heir follow him into Colorado, our 
farmers have learned how r to combat these germs of contagion, and, through 
hog associations employing practical veterinaries, have anticipated trouble and 
saved untold value in, hogs. 

Hog Associations 

The San Luis Valley, through the united action of Valley Agriculturist of 
the United States Department of Agriculture, State Agricultural College Veter- 
inary Department, business men and farmers of the Valley formed two most 
successful hog growers' associations, stamped out a bad infection of hog cholera 
brought in with imported hogs, and actually saved $600,000 worth of hogs. 
Each farmer in the association pays $10 or more per year, and, by application 




A Hog Ranch in the San Luis Valley — Field Peas are Being Converted into Por- 
to the secretary of the association, has the services of the veterinary doctor 
free, not only for his hogs, but for any other livestock on the farm. This veter- 
inarian is employed the year round. By his instructions, any hog brought in 
for breeding or other purposes from any other section, must be in a quarantine 
thirty days before it is allowed with the herd of hogs. Other parts of the state 
are forming similar associations, so ample safeguards are thrown around the 
industry to protect farmers from disease losses. 

It has been asserted that Colorado sun, dry air and altitude were proof 
against disease germs in livestock, but this is a mistake. While climatic 
environment gives "tone," vigor and growth, one must not rely upon them alone 
to prevent contagion: : The association plan outlined above is the one safe thing 
to do, and this "team work" anticipates and prevents contagion, which is the 
one dread in the hog industry everywhere. 

Hog Pasture 

Mr. F. D. Coburn, former Secretary of Agriculture for the State of Kansas, 
says alfalfa is the hog's idea of heaven. The tests made by both Government 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__ __ _ __ 

and State stations in the irrigated West, demonstrate that alfalfa, under irri- 
gation, will make from $50 to $115 per acre of pork. This anticipates feeding 
some grain once a day, amounting to one to two per cent of weight of hog. 
]f hog weighs 100 pounds, feed one pound grain once a day for one per cent, and 
two pounds for two per cent feed. Vary this amount according to the weight 
of the hog. To get best and maximum grains, divide area set apart for hog 
pasture into three divisions. Turn hogs into Xo. 1 at the rate of seven to nine 
mature hogs, or four to five sows with pigs, per acre. When they have grazed 
the alfalfa as closely as you think advisable, turn hogs into Xo. 2, run mower 
over Xo. 1 to cut down any old alfalfa left standing and give the new crop an 
even start. Then irrigate the new crop. Treat Xo. 2 and Xo. 3 in a similar 
manner. By the time Xo. 3 is pastured down, Xo. 1 will be ready for turning 
in again, and this rotation can be maintained throughout the growing season. 
The hogs, when fed some grain, wheat, barley, peas or corn to the amount 
named, are kept thrifty and growing all the time. This plan prevents their 
rooting up alfalfa, for it gives them at all times fresh, succulent feed, and 
brings them to the feed lot to fatten for market in prime condition. When in 
the fattening pens, alfalfa hay should be provided in racks, as it helps produce 
good bone and muscle. Peas, clover, rape and other forage are also used for 
pasture purposes for hogs. 

Grain Feeds 

Peas and barlev are the grain feeds most generally used in the higher alti- 
tudes, above corn areas. They produce a fine, high quality pork, which markets 
prefer to corn-fed hogs. From 350 to 600 pounds of pork can be made from an 
acre of peas and barley. Wheat is also quite generally used for hogs. Corn, on 
lands below 6,000 feet, can be, and is, successfully given, yielding 25 to 75 
bushels per acre, varying in amount with kind of corn and kind of farmer. 

Denver Union Stockyards an Encouragement to the 

Livestock Industry 

The great packing houses of Chicago have made Denver one of the leading 
Western livestock markets. More than six million dollars have been expended 
in construction of modern plants, and four millions in the establishment of a 
Union Stockyards. Here is also held, each January, a Western Stock Show. 
This has proven to be the time and place where buyers of beef, pork, mutton 
and feeder stock bid with each other for the various products desired. The best 
market of the year is then on for all classes of meat animals, especially prime 
finishers and good, all-round feeders. For several years Denver has been the 
best hog market in the country. Packers give the Colorado hog raiser really a 




On the Foothill Range — Southwest Colorado 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



30 




A Profitable "Side Line" in the San Luis Valley 

better price than he can get in Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis or Chicago, and 

thus are encouraging the industry in an attempt to bring the local supply to 

fully meet the Denver demand. 

For the years 1913 and 1914, receipts at the Union Stockyards, Denver, 

were as follows: 

Total From Colorado Total From Colorado 

1913 1913 1914 1914 

Cattle 499,208 260,703 442,738 ^50,788 

Hogs 246,598 63,446 255,636 93,802 

Sheep 620,431 234,151 692,247 248,417 

It will be seen that Colorado furnished less than fifty per cent of the cattle, 
twenty-five per cent of the hogs, and about thirty-three and one-third per cent 
of the sheep in 1913. In 1914 the number of hogs was around 300,000, forty 
per cent coming from Colorado. This shows the Colorado farmer knows a good 
thing when he sees it, and is fast getting into the hog production work. The 
Union Stockyards can very easily double its present capacity, and, besides 
Denver, we find a considerable number are taken by the packing industries of 
Pueblo, Durango and other local points. Colorado can easily supply a market 
for three quarters of a million hogs a year, and our annual output has scarcely 




Diversified Farming in the Grand River Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__ __ 31 

reached 100,000. Expensive buildings have not been used in Colorado. Either 
colony portable houses, costing $10 to $20 each, or a well-built hog shed-barn, 
costing but $100 to $200, which lets in a flood of light into all parts of the 
building, are in general use. We need more hog farmers to help us supply the 
best market a farmer could ask for. 

Poultry 

Few places have such inducements for the poultry business as Colorado. 
The tourist and healthseeker, as well as the sensitive city dweller, call for fresh 
eggs, and to supply this want railroads from the East bring many hundreds of 
miles "strictly fresh" eggs, 72 to 108 hours from the hen. The country grocery 
and the wholesaler do all they can to encourage greater egg production on every 
farm. One dozen hens will soon keep the whole family busy, making production 
of broilers and fresh farm eggs a profitable "side line" to the main farm business. 

One young lady has taken the turkey to furnish her "pin money" for the 
year. She spends the time her city cousin uses in golf, tennis or joy rides, in 
raising turkeys on her father's alfalfa farm. She sends these, carefully dressed, 
to a market 250 miles away, where she gets thirty-five cents a pound for all she 
cares to raise. Her "pin money" from the turkey crop amounts to $500 to $750 
per year. 

Irrigation affords ideal conditions for aquatic fowl, and they practically 
"rustle" their living. One man who specializes in broilers and carton eggs is 
paying the "other fellow" to grow all his feed, and yet nets more per acre than 
anyone but a Coloradoan will believe possible. 

The following data, taken from the latest United States Department of 
Agriculture statistics obtainable, gives one some idea of the average price the 
farmer receives each month for poultry meats, eggs, butter and cheese. To be 
sure, these must vary with location, but the steadily good prices are seen to 
prevail usually throughout the year. 

Average prices received by Colorado farmers on the first of each month for 
the year 1913: 

PRODUCTS January February March April May June 

Butter, cents per pound 31 31 30 30 27 27 

Cheese, cents per pound 13 13.1 13.1 13.5 13 11.7 

Eggs, cents per dozen 33 31 23 20 18 18 

Chickens, cents per pound .. . 13 13.1 13.1 13.2 13 11.7 




Turkey Raising is Profitable in Colorado — Grand River Valley District 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

32 

PRODUCTS July August September October November December 

Butter, cents per pound 28 28 27 31 31 32 

Cheese, cents per pound 14 18.6 13.4 13.9 13 13 

Eggs, cents per dozen 21 22 22 27 30 37 

Chickens, cents per pound .. . 14 13.6 13.4 13.9 13 13 

Special Conditions of Success 

Some men succeed with chickens and hogs who would utterly fail with 
sheep and cattle. Others succeed with cattle and horses who would fail with 
hogs and poultry. Individual tastes will differ and must be considered, but 
should be secondary to the farm and its environment in the final choice of live- 
stock. Keep some type of livestock on every farm, no matter whether it be a 
ten to twenty acre fruit farm, or a 160-acre grain or general crop farm. 

Let the boys and girls grow up with the colts, calves and chickens as pets, 
and they imbibe a love for farm life and farm environment which will make 
them stronger in moral fibre, keener workers, and better citizens of their com- 
monwealth. Keep livestock on your farm to improve your youth, enrich your 
farm, and help your bank account to grow. 

CHAPTER VII 
GENERAL OR DIVERSIFIED FARMING 

Profit to the Farmer and New Life for the Land 

WHEAT A FIRST CROP. The first crop to be grown to any appreciable 
degree "under the ditch," in Colorado, was wheat. A bread crop seemed 
a necessity. Wheat followed wheat, until in some of the irrigated dis- 
tricts the yield of this grain fell to or below fifty per cent of what the virgin 
soil gave to the farmer. 

Why Change of Crop Needed 

Why was this ? Plants feeding at the same depth, on the same food elements, 
absorb the readily available portion of these particular foods faster than 




Agricultural Possibilities at an Altitude Exceeding 8,ooo Feet, on the Rio Grande Watershed. 
Potatoes in the Foreground, Wheat in the Center and Peas in the Distance. 

A Settler's First Crop 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

_ ~ - - — — — — — - - 33 

Xature can render them available to plant use. Therefore, there conies a time, 
in this single crop practice, when the wheat plants will be sparingly fed and 
return to the farmer lessened harvests. 

Crops Do Not Feed Alike 

All crops do not feed alike on the soil. They may use different food 
elements, or feed on the same elements at different depths. When plants feed 
at different depths, the deeper feeding plants can follow shallow feeders without 
serious immediate loss, even should they use the same food elements, but, eventu- 
ally, unless these food elements be renewed, the available plant food becomes 
exhausted and that soil is said to be impoverished. Now, this is really not soil 
farming — it is soil mining! 

Soil Mining vs. Soil Farming 

Single crop farming eventually brings this result everywhere. Many dis- 
tricts in the South have, in the past, grown more than a bale of cotton per acre. 
These same lands, for the reasons named above, a few years later failed to 
return a quarter of a bale. It was not the fault of the land; it was the fault 
of the farmer and the system he followed. The same is true of the abandoned 
forms of the far East. Every farm was a "mine," and when the available 
fertility was utilized, the man unfortunate enough to be in present possession 
of one of these "mined out" farms, moved West to there repeat the process. 
Perhaps he was the one who started this pernicious practice in our irrigated 
districts. 

Work and Worth of Field Peas 

Settlers in a certain Colorado valley began this practice, and, after a course 
of years, their wheat gave such low yields it scarcely paid to grow the crop. 
In despair they sent to the Experiment Station at Port Collins for relief. A 
specialist, studying the situation, told them that they had a climate adapted to 
field peas, and it would, if rightly used, bring their loheat yields back again. 
He said all sagebrush lands lack organic matter — generally called "humus." 
Our Colorado soils usually have plenty of mineral matter, phosphates, potash, 
lime, etc., but show a small amount of humus because of the scant vegetation 
that a limited rainfall for ages has given the land surface. Humus, or this 
organic matter, not only increases the water-holding capacity of a soil, loosens 
a heavy soil up and makes it more porous, but it also carries an appreciable 
amount of nitrates — a type of food all Western soils have in but a limited 
supply. The wheat, because of the gluten it carries and of which the miller 
wants a good amount, draws heavily on the nitrates in the soil. You must 
grow a crop which will store nitrates in the soil. The legume crops — alfalfa, 
clover, beans, peas, vetch, etc. — will do this. Because you want immediate 
relief and conditions are most favorable for the crop, Canada or Mexican field 
peas are suggested for your valley. 

This crop was put in and it gave a feed crop for livestock feeding, and now 
sheep and hogs by the thousands are being fed on this pea crop, which, in turn, 
feeds the soil the food the grain crop was too energetically absorbing. 

Xot only has the valley come back to its normal yield, but now forty, fifty, 
and, in some few instances, sixty bushels of wheat per acre are reported. 

Legume Crops Essential 

This has emphasized for all Colorado farmers the crop value of legumes on 
the farm. A perennial legume is generally desired — one that does not have to 
be planted year by year. Alfalfa has come to be the foundation crop for 
general farming in Colorado. It feeds deeper than any other legume, and is, 
therefore, a better soil renovator: and it furnishes several crops each season — 
from two, in the Carbondale District, to four, in the Paradox Valley and San 
Juan Basin- — varying with altitude and latitude within the state. This lends 
itself most admirably to livestock feeding, furnishing a most desirable forage 
for all classes of livestock — from poultry to horses. 

Change in Farm Methods Desirahle 

The early settlers undertook to farm in this irrigated West much as they 
did in their home country, even raising the same crops. We have learned 
better, through experience" The great diversity of crops possible to grow on 
Colorado irrigated lands has led to a careful study to select the ones lest 



CROP ROTATION 

On a Colorado Irrigated Farm — Illustrated 

RIVERBY FARM, CARBONDALE, COLORADO 





i. Grain — Pedigreed Barley No. 9, from Wisconsin, Cross Drilled with Alfalfa 





2. Alfalfa in Same Field, Succeeding Year, Second Cutting — Left in Alfalfa four years. 
Last crop fourth season plowed under when knee high — Equal to twenty loads barn- 
yard manure per acre in fertilizing value 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



35 




3. Potatoes Follow Alfalfa — This field, 19 14, gave a yield of 500 bushels per acre. Proper 
soil treatment, good seed and good farming make the right rotation for a given district 
and give maximum crops every year under irrigation 




The Carbondale District, with Mt. Sopris in the Background 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

36 ~~ ~™~ -——-—-————-————— 

adapted to the particular district — the system of farming decided upon, and 
which will prove in the end most desirable and profitable. Thus, each farm is 
a law unto itself. However, it has been found that some kind of a rotation or 
general order of crops is wise to follow, to have something for the market, and 
something to feed and keep up the fertility of the land. 

Basis for Crop Rotation 

The following general fundamentals of successful crop farming, by Prof. 
Harry Snyder, of Minnesota, comprehend careful crop management anywhere: 

1. Economy in Business. Plan the cropping system to distribute farm 
labor as much as possible. Have as little expensive farm help "all at a time," 
like grain harvest, as efficiency will permit. 

2. Maintenance of Soil Fertility. We have a good, virgin soil in Colo- 
rado feet deep. We, therefore, from the beginning , should farm it — not mine it. 
Then, when we "will" it to our posterity, it will be a real legacy, and not a land 
"lemon" we are "passing down." 

3. Productivity of the Soil. Yields are what we want from every crop 
we shall grow. 

4. Subsistence of Livestock. Some kind of livestock should be kept on 
every farm, and we need to grow the crop to feed them. The Colorado Experi- 
ment Station has demonstrated that if alfalfa is selling locally for $5 per ton 
in stack, it is worth $12 to $14 per ton to feed it to lambs or beef cattle. 

In other words, passing through the feed lot on the farm more than doubles 
the cash value of the hay to the farmer, and presents him a fine fertilizer in the 
barnyard manure, free of charge. 

5. Farm Profits at End of Season. The farmer, the same as any other 
business man, must win dollars in the business to keep in the game. System on 
the farm will stop farm leaks and increase farm profits. 

One thing more should be viewed quite broadly before the settler has defi- 
nitely decided upon his crop rotation plan. This is the primary purposes of a 
rotation. What are they? 

Purpose of a Crop Rotation 

1. Prevention of Crop-Sick Soils. The wheat experience in a certain 
Colorado valley years ago is too costly to farmers, and should warn us not to 
follow the continuous production of the same crop on the same land for too long 
a period. Another district in the irrigated West found their soil and climate 
peculiarly adapted to potatoes, and their annual crop was 8,000 to 10,000 car- 
loads, their annual yield averaged better than 125 bushels, and many potato 
farmers got double that amount per acre, and their average annual price ran 
forty-six cents per bushel, getting $1 per bushel frequently. It was too big a 
temptation — they "potatoed" the land to death — it was too valuable a crop to 
"let go." What was the result? Insect pests multiplied, fungus diseases got in 
their deadly work, the drain on the limited supply of humus in Western soils 
cut down both yield and quality, and suddenly there was a rude awakening, 
when that district could not furnish any cars of good potatoes for market. 
Both state and notional potato specialists were earnestly called upon to "come 
over into Macedonia and help us" — and they came. But, oh ! the years and 
years it takes to get back a lost industry. This should be sufficient warning 
to prevent settlers in any other district or valley in all this boundless West 
running any similar hazards with any crop in any region. 

2. Elimination of Weeds, Insect Pests and Crop Diseases. Clean 
seed, on clean, well cultivated ground, can best be maintained when a cultivated 
crop follows, somewhere in the rotation, a meadow or grass crop. Wind and 
the irrigation ditch are great distributers of weed seeds. Weeds can and will 
be exterminated in a given district when all farmers within that irrigation 
district using the same canal water not only keep fields clean, but cut down 
or mow ditch and canal bank weeds. One or two neglectful farmers up near 
the head of the ditch will furnish the seed, and the irrigation water will 
distribute these weed pests to every field on every farm using the water. 
Concerted, persistent action is required on the part of all to keep down the 
weeds, which certainly are a reflection on good farming and furnish most 
excellent harbor for pernicious crop insects. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

37 
3. Maintenance and Increase in the Productivity of the Field 
Crop by Conserving Soil Fertility. Take it from the present settler in any 
Colorado valley, even if the soil be feet deep and "rich as cream," he will tell 
t \ou to get in a field of alfalfa as soon as your ground is properly prepared for 
it. If clover or field peas will suit your location, use one or both of them. We 
want humus — organic matter — in all sagebrush soils just as soon as we can 
get it. One farmer, on a well known potato soil — Rocky Mountain red loam — 
made a striking demonstration that shows the value to new soils of the applica- 
tion of some humus. He plowed up two pieces of sagebrush land. On one he 
put some ten to fifteen loads of strawy manure, and on the other no manure — 
just gave a good plowing. Both were put into good seed condition and planted 
to potatoes, and both pieces were well taken care of throughout the season. 
The raw sagebrush land gave him some 100 bushels, and the tract with the 
strawy manure nearly 200 bushels average per acre returns. The full benefit 
of the manure was not obtained until the next year. ■■' ,_, 

Burning Up Humus 

In the early days, Colorado wheat farmers in certain districts threshed 
their grain, hauled it off to mill, and burned up their straw to "get it out of 
the way." They have since learned that this straw is worth better than $3 per 
ion for feed for stock, and still more as feed for the sagebrush land in bringing 
quickly into the soil the needed organic matter or humus, which is the one 
element Dame Nature was stingy about when she formed Western soils. 
Nitrogen is the most expensive form of fertilizer in the market to buy, but the 
easiest form for the farmer to grow into his Colorado soil. 

What General Farming Should Include 

We now come to the selection of the crops for the general farm — the par- 
ticular crops each individual farmer must himself select, adapted to his farm 
environment, soil and market, as well as his own individual desires. Every 
man does best with those things he is most interested in, and the market 
especially favors. 

What Any General Farm Crop Should Include 

1. At least one cash crop. 

2. At least one cultivated crop. 

3. At least one legume crop. 

4. At least one livestock or feeding crop. 




Clearing Sagebrush from New Land with Railroad Rails — San Luis Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



38 




Spring Plowing in the Montezuma Valley 

5. These crops should be so grouped as to most economically distribute 
farm labor throughout the year. 

6. The farmer should plan to turn cheap, bulky feeds into milk, poultry 
or meat products. 

7. A carefully worked out rotation turns ordinary waste into profits — 
practice "factory methods" on the farm. 

Getting Sagebrush Land Subdued 

Sagebrush is quite readily killed by irrigation. A few thorough applica- 
tions of water and its growth ceases. If the brush is close set, the dried, dead 
brush can be burned off, and the ground is ready for the plow. 

Methods of Clearing Brush 

Grubbing out the brush is slow and more expensive than team work. 
Special sagebrush grubber machines, of several different makes, are on the 
market, and some of them seem most efficient and satisfactory. Some settlers 
use a railroad iron, going over the ground when it is frozen. At this time the 
brush breaks off readily, like standing corn does in the corn belt. The brush is 
then raked and burned, much as the corn belt farmer gets rid of his corn stalks, 
and it is scarcely any more trouble or expense. Another method is using a 
traction engine, where large areas are to be cleared. Whatever method is used, 
one should plan to clear his land of brush, ready for the plow, at an expense 
of not to exceed $5 per acre. 

Plowing Sagebrush Land 

The first plowing will require extra power, because it is the first time the 
ground has ever been stirred and because of the sagebrush roots. Keep plow 
lathe well sharpened and you save draft on teams. The first plowing should be 
deep enough to aerate (thoroughly mix air) into at least four and a half to six 
inches of surface soil. Thoroughly stir the ground. "Cut and cover" work 
should not be tolerated, for, unless the entire surface soil is aerated, it will be 
unresponsive just where the unplowed patches lie. 

Fining the Soil 

The first time one must be thorough in seedbed preparation. Not only 
must the surface soil be "fined," so plant food is rendered easily available to 
the crop grown, but with a Fresno scraper, a plow and a plank drag, the field 
should be properly leveled. Lands not properly leveled are expensive to irri- 
gate, and it is difficult on such lands to give an equal distribution of water, and 
a "spotted," unsatisfactory crop is the result. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

~~~~ 39 

Essentials in Good Seedbed 

The prime factors in seedbed preparation are as follows : 

1. A well drained soil. 

2. A well aerated soil. 

3. Soil in such physical condition that the root system of the growing 
plants can abstract the needed food elements from the soil particles, with the 
least expenditure of plant energy. 

4. Moisture sufficient to start germination and continue plant growth. 

5. A soil with ample amount of potash, phosphate, lime and nitrates in 
available form by plant use. Careful tillage and intelligent farming with irri- 
gation, will meet conditions and provide all these essentials in Colorado "under 
the ditch." 

Crops to Grow First 
The crop to first be put on the land must be determined by the location and 
the farmer's farm needs. Usually some grain or forage crop is grown which 
can be used with the farm stock. Once in a while potatoes, in the potato dis- 
tricts, are used, as this furnishes clean seed stock for the next year's fields. 
One will then plant oats on sagebrush land and push the growth, sacrificing 
yield for vigor and vitality. Some sow alfalfa as a first crop, but it is always 
wise to use an annual crop on sagebrush land so, by irrigation, one can find 
where irregularities or "soil pockets" occur, and correct them before a meadow 
crop is put on the land. For that reason we do not recommend alfalfa as a 
crop for new lands. Barley, oats or wheat are a good first crop, since these are 
largely surface feeders and give quick returns. No legume crop is advised for 
raw sagebrush land. Use a grain or a root crop first. 

Benefits From a Number of Crops 

Few states are so well provided for general crop farming as Colorado. The 
mountains and their incomparable scenery, fishing, splendid roads and pleasing 
resorts attract tourists ; the rich coal, precious metal and radium mines employ 
thousands of workmen, who must be supplied with a considerable variety of 
food products. The more than 650 manufacturing plants of the state employ 
many thousand food consumers. The varying altitudes give a diversity of crop 
possibilities that few states possess — a range from 4,000 feet to "timber line," 
over 10,000 feet; then, also, a variation through 400 miles north and south, 
making latitude crop changes; with it all, soil differences. In these mountain 
valleys one may have three to six different types of soil on one farm — all 
fertile — but each with special advantages for certain crops, while they may 
grow all crops well. The Colorado farmer need not be, and should not be, 
"tied" to any one crop. 

The Denver & Eio Grande Railroad is doing all that it can to prevent the 
"one crop" disasters, which have befallen certain other parts of our nation. 

Dairying has come into prominence in Colorado, so that dairy products in 
certain regions are being produced and shipped out to other parts of the state, 
where four years ago few cows were kept. Four years ago the state had but 
fifteen or twenty silos, while now Colorado has more than 1,000. Over two 
million dollars' worth of dairy products must still be brought from other states. 
Over 150,000 acres of sugar beets are grown each year, 75,000 acres of potatoes, 
nearly 600,000 acres of alfalfa, more than that much in other meadow crops, 
and thousands of acres in truck, melon and onion crops ; there is an increasing 
acreage in corn, wheat, oats, barley and other grain crops, and field peas, beans 
and the clovers are well distributed over the central, southern and western 
portions of the state. Special or one-crop farming is not encouraged in 
Colorado, because it has not proven to be wise, safe or profitable. 

Alfalfa is the foundation of our crops' success, and it should find a place 
on all farms below 9,000 feet. Then the honey it produces as a by-product is 
unsurpassed. The Colorado alfalfa honey takes ribbons and medals wherever 
shown. 

The fruit farmer has found intertilled crops between rows of trees, while 
trees are coming into bearing, do not check tree growth, but do grow money 
checks from the land. Then, when trees come into bearing, vetch or clover 
between the rows keep up soil fertility, prevents burning out of humus from 
soil by the sun, and gives a feed for hogs, which every fruit grower has found 



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Consult the Map and you will see that the 
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Denver &■» Rio Grande Railroad 

flLE LANDS OF COLORADO, UTAH AND NEW MEXICO 




The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

42 

profitable to keep to use up cull fruit. Our farmers are finding it wise to select 
for their farms that rotation of crops which makes farming a systematic 
business, brings market recognition by growing carlots and trainloads of a 
given product, thus putting that district on the commercial map. 

Autos and auto roads, mountain power, and mountain water to get bath 
and running water in the farmhouse, free rural delivery and the telephone, are 
making the general crop farm in Colorado an enjoyable and profitable place 
to be. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Eastern Slope and the San Luis Valley 

THE region known as "The Eastern Slope of the Rockies" is served by the 
Denver & Eio Grande Railroad from Denver to Pueblo, a distance of 120 
miles ; from Pueblo to Canon City, where the Arkansas River cuts its way 
through the Continental Divide; and also from Pueblo to Trinidad at the 
southern line of the state. Around Colorado Springs, both north and south, 
from Monument to Fountain, are farms of eighty acres or less given to raising 
of alfalfa, grain, and maintaining small farm dairies and poultry plants. 
Colorado Springs and Manitou, being important leading resort towns, furnish 
an immediate market for both dairy and poultry products. While these valley 
districts have been settled for over forty years, new irrigation developments, 
and adapting the crop to the particular region where grown, are opening new 
areas to crop production. The advent of the silo has given additional encour- 
agement to raising of corn, and this, in turn, has increased dairy production. 
Settlers coming into this region are greatly helped by the County Agriculturist, 
who anticipates farm crop troubles, and his work goes a long way toward 
increasing crop profits on the farm. This is a very great help to the new 





Harvest Scene in the Arkansas Valley, near Pueblo 

settler, who thus feels he has a "friend at court" who will keep him from 
getting far wrong in his crop methods in a new country. 

From Denver to Palmer Lake — the northern slope of the Arkansas-Platte 
Divide — the road traverses the watered valley of the South Platte River and 
its tributaries. Here truck farms, dairy plants and stock ranches are found, 
the latter out toward the approaching divide in going from Denver south. The 
settler, in all this region from Pueblo, through Colorado Springs to Denver, 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



43 




Field near Florence, under Hardscrabble Irrigation Project 

has a state highway for auto travel, and the best railway transportation, both 
freight and express, to be found in the West. Two other railroads besides the 
Denver & Rio Grande serve this territory. Here is room for more dairies, where 
the finest quality of certified milk can be produced for domestic use in these 
three largest cities in the state, as well as cream and milk for butter and cheese 
production. As it is now, the railroads running east of Denver have to bring 
from several hundred miles into Kansas and Nebraska, milk and cream by the 
carload daily to supply the large creamery plants of Denver with their needed 
amount. A more favorable location for a dairy and poultry, or hog farmer, 
could scarcely be found. 

While a considerable portion of the country from Pueblo south, through 
Walsenburg to Trinidad, is broken and rough, yet the Huerfano and other 
streams furnish irrigation water for many areas in valleys tributary to the 
great southern Colorado coal fields. Here is a most excellent home market for 
practically everything the farmer grows. Here in southern Colorado the 




Vineyard and Orchard in Canon City District 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

44 




An Orchard near Florence 

diligent homeseeker will find opportunities most inviting for cattle ranching 
or for general farming. 

From Pueblo up the Arkansas River to Canon City is a region quite 
susceptible to vegetable, fruit and dairy farming. In Beaver Park, around 
Florence, and in the Canon City District, some most excellent fruit orchards 
will be found, while grapes, cherries, strawberries, raspberries and other small 
fruits are quite generally and successfully grown. Recently a few have turned 
attention to celery culture, and a very choice product has been produced. The 
cement plants and oil refineries east of Florence and within the valley of the 
Arkansas, furnish employment for a considerable number of people, who are 
practically dependent upon the farmers of this district for their ? ood produce. 
Very nearly all of the crop which these farmers can produce can be marketed 
within the district from Canon City to and including Pueblo. 

Wet Mountain Valley 

The Wet Mountain Valley is almost directly south of Canon City, lying 
partly in Custer and partly in Fremont counties. It lies between two ranges of 
mountains — Wet Mountain Range on the east and Sangre de Cristo (Blood of 
Christ) Range on the west. Grape and Texas creeks, with their numerous 
tributaries, afford abundant water for the valley. While this valley is 
comparatively small — an average width of seven to nine miles — it is one of 
Colorado's most fertile mountain valleys. While it has a prosperous agricul- 
tural community, there is room for many more farmers. The mean altitude is 
7.500 feet, but it is so well sheltered that it has a greater diversity of crops 
than its altitude would indicate. The valley proper is comparatively level, with 
just sufficient slope for good drainage. 

San Luis Valley 

The earliest American explorers of Colorado termed the San Luis Valley 
"An Earthly Paradise." A great mountain valley, the size of the State of 
Connecticut, almost as level as a floor. This valley in recent geological times 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



45 




Oats in Shock, Four Miles South of Westcliffe — Wet Mountain Valley 

was a great fresh water lake, near the headwaters of the Rio Grande Del Norte. 
The lake was dammed back by a great flow of lava, which is supposed to have 
rolled down from Mount San Antone, which still stands, a sentinel above the 
valley on the south, and created a barrier more than a thousand feet high. 
Originally the lake must have been a thousand feet deep, but the many torrents 
which poured into it from the volcano studded ranges on every side brought 
down immense volumes of volcanic ashes, fine soil and pebbles from the moun- 
tainsides and eventually filled the basin full. The river, in the meantime, had 
been flowing across the barrier, and little by little carved out a canon, through 
which the waters slowly subsided. The San Luis Valley of today is this great 
lake bed, lying in steady, even slopes, 35 to 40 miles wide, and 120 miles long, 
with hardly a hill, a dune or a ripple in the general surface of the ground from 
mountainside to mountainside. The Rio Grande now flows across the valley 
from northwest to southeast. Toward this river from the mountains on every 
side flow a number of smaller streams, each receiving their water supply from 
mountain snows and summer rains. This gives a most reliable source for 
irrigation in the valley. 

Surrounded by Mountains 

This great plateau, lying at from 7,500 to 8,000 feet above the sea, is 
surrounded on every side by high mountains. To the north and northeast is 
the solid granite barrier of the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Range, 
culminating in Sierra Blanca, the fourth highest mountain in Colorado. To 
the east is the Culebra Range; to the south the great rounded mass of San 
Antone; to the west the Continental Divide and the Cochetopa Hills. 

The San Luis Valley might be described as a projection of New Mexico 
into Colorado. Being high, the burning heat of the deserts is tempered by the 
altitude. The mountains are frequently clothed in clouds — rain in summer, 
snow in winter — while in the valley the sun shines undisturbed. The blizzards 
that sweep down from the north upon the plains portion of Colorado are baffled 
by the Sangre de Cristo Range, and never reach the valley. The wet storms 
that sweep north and west from the Gulf of California pile their burdens of 
snow high on the mountains to the west of the valley, but do not get across. 

The result of all these conditions is a climate hardly equalled anywhere 
else. The summers are bright, but cool; the falls and winters are crisp, but 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



46 




A San Luis Valley Potato Harvest 

sunny, open and dry. There is almost never any snow laying on the ground for 
more than a few days at a time. There are never any destructive windstorms, 
though the spring season is a breezy one. The mountain streams that flow into 
the valley are all crystal clear, and all teem with trout. The mountains on all 
sides are full of game. With a perfect out-of-doors climate, camping and 

fishing are favorite amusements of 
the San Luis Valley farmers. 

Soils of the Valley 

The soil of this valley consists 

of deposits brought down by the 

rivers and deposited in the old lake 

bottom. As would be expected, the 

jKC* finer particles of silt and clay are 

found near the center, while the 
coarser sands and gravel are 
nearer the outer edge. 

The sedimentary soils are many 
feet deep, and, because of this, the 
gravelly and sandy loam soils are 
considered just as valuable, and, in 
some instances, command a higher 
price than the finer clay loam soils. 

Sub-Irrigation 

The peculiar formation of the 
San Luis Valley gives that remark- 
able texture of soil, which enables 
the farmer to irrigate by gradually 
filling the undersurface with water 
from ditches 150 to 200 feet apart. 
This "subbing" is continued until 
surface soil becomes moist, when 
the water is shut off. When the 
crop has absorbed this water to the 
extent it must be renewed to keep 
up normal plant growth, another 
sub-irrigation is given the ground. 
Rightly used, this method gives 
ideal growing conditions, and is 
the easiest and cheapest method of 
irrigating land. If abused and too 
An Artesian Well in the San Luis Valley much water be used, it raises the 




The Fertile Lands of Colorado 




WSWmm 

A San Luis Valley Wheat Field 



water table in the soil. Practically the whole valley sub-irrigates in this 



manner. 



Artesian Wells 



Because sedimentary deposits filled the old lake bed and the various 
laver^ were of din^rent material-some porous, while others became impervious 
fo water-there came to be water-carrying strata, curving from one side down 
ntothe bed aM across to the other side of the lake overl^ by payers tha* 
rot onlv did not carry water, but were impervious to it When one bores ^rom 
Resent surface to one of these water-bearing strata, the liberated water will 
? is to level of either side. This gives the flowing or art ^"U. These 
wells have the purest soft water for domestic use, and it is of J lorm temper 

bS cL be^ed to to^SS furnishing, as they do, a steady, constant flow. 
Settlement Centers of the Valley 

from an early day, hav, = operated bands of eattle that foed™ ^ 

cats, barley, garden, and general root ,% nd po f ^ e t "[ e 0p h S om r e e s f n ° d profitable 
indeed a district with a good water *3 f °XS^ runs to 
farms. Moffat is a growing town on the railroad, from wnicn tne g 

SagU ATo h st of the streams in this north end of the valley are small, and sink 
b P for^ ?oini very farTom the mountains. In the spring these streams spread 
SWSSScS, listening a large ™g^ «^^ Tof toct 
plrpJeT SrTenS^^ - -i *™ 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

48 ~ ~" ~ "" 

Hooper, Mosca and the Better Farming Club 

Farther down into the valley, on the Salida and Alamosa branch of the 
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, are Hooper and Mosca. Here is the portion of 
the valley now seeding alfalfa by the hundreds of acres. More than a carload 
of alfalfa seed was used in the Hooper District alone in the spring of 1914. 
This section of the valley is rapidly getting back into stock hogs. The Mosca 
District farmers have organized a "Better Farmers' Club" that has for its 
motto: "Pigs, Peas and Alfalfa." During the summer of 1914, a measure test 
of growing alfalfa on the farm of Oscar Lord demonstrated that alfalfa grows 
cne inch per day in the growing season in this valley. 

Center, Monte Vista and Del Norte 

The Del Norte-Monte Vista-Center districts constitute a most important 
potato and general agricultural district. From 1,500 to 2,000 cars of potatoes 
are shipped from this district each season. The great areas seeded to field peas, 
wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa, and general forage and root crops, give a diversity 
of crop and farm,- t returns the year round. 

Del Norte is the oldest town in the valley- and the county seat of Rio 
Grande County. Its well shaded streets, substantial buildings, and location 
near the Canon of the Rio Grande Del Norte and adjacent foothills, make this 
an attractive and inviting place to live. The slope of forty to forty-five feet to 




Field Peas in Blossom — San Luis Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

. __„ _____ _ __ ___ 

the mile gives excellent drainage, and the sandy loam soil is exceedingly 
responsive. The highest yields of grain and potatoes for the valley have been 
obtained here. 

Center is northeast of Monte Vista, with which it is connected by the San 
Luis Central Railroad. This district has a splendid farming community, where 
the highest type of general farming is being practiced. 

Monte Vista is the agricultural center of the valley. Here, in keeping with 
the general thrift and prosperity of the town, the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- 
road has a pleasing buff brick station building, and opposite the depot the city 
has established a park, whose fine shade trees, green lawns and handsome 
flower beds make a most favorable impression upon all new arrivals. 

This district has over 200,000 acres of crop land growing wheat, oats, 
barley, field peas, alfalfa, root, vegetable and berry crops. No better berries, 
cauliflower, cabbage, celery, and other garden crops are grown anywhere than 
are here produced. 

Alamosa the Railroad Center of the Valley 

Alamosa is the division headquarters for the Fourth Division of the Denver 
& Rio Grande Railroad. The main lines to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and 
Durango and Silverton, Colorado, run south. To the west runs the line to 
Monte Vista, Del Norte and the mining camp of Creede, while to the north is 
the branch connecting with the transcontinental line at Salida, and east runs 
the main line through Blanca, Fort Garland, over La Veta Pass to Denver. 
This is the distributing point for the valley, and is a thriving, growing town. 

South San Luis 

The southern part of the valley has a number of prosperous settlements 
and towns that have been established for more than thirty years. This portion 
of the valley is largely watered by the Conejos River and its tributaries. Small 
grains, peas, hogs and sheep are on most every farm. 

La Jara, on the railroad, and Sanford, off the railroad a few miles east, 
are the first towns one sees going south from Alamosa. Romeo, farther south 
seven miles, with Manassa, three miles east of the railroad, one next sees as 
growing, thriving country villages. In the extreme south end of the valley lie 
Antonito and the old Mexican settlement of Conejos. Around these two towns, 
up and down the Conejos River, are farms which have been producing crops 
since 1850, and still give most remunerative returns. This gives one an idea 
of the fertility of this old lake bed's soil. It is in this extreme south end of 
the valley where the majority of the commercial field pea seed is produced. 

The East San Luis District 

This formerly consisted of two old Mexican land grants, reaching from the 
Rio Grande River east to the summit of the Culebra Range, and south into New 
Mexico — Trinchera and Costilla. A few years ago the Costilla Estate was a 
sagebrush area ranged over by cattle and sheep. A company of enterprising 
men have put in an irrigation system, built a standard gauge railroad through 
the tract from Blanca to Jarosa, on the Colorado-New Mexico line, and estab- 
lished the towns of San Acacio, Mesita and Jarosa. Over 30,000 acres are now 
in farms, and 60,000 to 70,000 acres more rendered available. The Trinchera 
Estate has likewise been cut into ranches and farms, with extensive irrigation 
works provided. Blanca is the trading center of this district at the junction of 
the San Luis Southern and Denver & Rio Grande railroads. 

Drainage in the Valley 

Because of the belief that if a certain amount of irrigation water is good, 
more is better, the men on the higher levels have raised the water level or table 
on lands below too near the surface. This waste water has, for many years 
now, been "drowning out" the lower level lands in the center of the valley, 
where the lowest portion of the lake bed was originally. 

Several hundred thousand acres of the very best land of the valley have 
thus, within recent years, been rendered non-productive. 

The drainage work already done by private parties shows such beneficial 
results, that now a general plan of drainage for all the "water-logged" lands of 
the valley is under present contemplation by the United States Reclamation 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

50 ~ ~~~~ 

Service, United States Department of Agriculture, the State of Colorado, and 
an organization of San Luis Valley workers. At the request of Secretary Lane, 
of the Interior Department, United States Government, Sir William Wilcox, 
the world's most celebrated irrigation engineer, visited San Luis Valley in the 
summer of 1914. He said the drainage of these lands was a most needed and 
imperative act. If all would join in the general cost, it could be most readily 
and cheaply done. The 200,000 acres a private enterprise has drained shows 
these lands are as fertile as ever when the water is drained off. 

Summary 

The San Luis Valley now has many silos, which put up pea and grain 
silage for winter feed. From 120,000 to 125,000 acres of peas are annually 
grown for lamb and hog feeding in the valley. Part of this is cut, piled in 
windrows or stacked, and part made into silage and stored in 100 to 200 ton 
silos, to feed out in winter to cattle and sheep. The lambs and hogs are herded 
in the fields where peas were grown, so no loss occurs from forage or shelled 
peas left in the field. From 150,000 to 200,000 lambs are fed in the valley 
each winter and eat up the farm roughage, converting it into high-quality 
mutton, which commands a premium on the market. 

It is also being found that Coburn was right when he said: "Alfalfa is a 
hog's idea of Heaven." Hogs are becoming the dominant livestock crop of this 
valley, and it has here been demonstrated that from $75 to $100 worth of pork 
per acre can be made from alfalfa, with just a little grain fed daily — either 
peas or barley, or both. While hog cholera has found its way into the valley, 
the associations the farmers have formed, under the general advice and assist- 
ance of the Veterinary Department of the State Agricultural College, have 
effectually stamped out hog cholera and established such a system of protection 
against its further introduction, that raising hogs has become the leading live- 
stock industry of the valley. 

This valley has still room for many thousands more farmers on irrigated 
lands, well drained, awaiting the plow. 

A valley agriculturist is now employed, expense of which is shared pro- 
portionately by the six counties in the valley, under supervision of the State 
Agricultural College. With an auto, this agriculturist visits the farms and 
helps all new settlers to get the right start, with the assurance of success from 
the start. Most excellent auto roads abound all over the valley, and the auto 
has come to be a common vehicle of travel by San Luis Valley farmers. 



CHAPTER IX 

Southwestern Colorado and the San Juan Basin 

IN the extreme southwestern part of Colorado extending into New Mexico, is 
a region vast in extent, remarkable in its natural resources, and varied in 
its agricultural possibilities and opportunities. It is well watered and has 
a real wealth of climate. 

Archuleta County and East San Juan Basin 

The San Juan Mountains form that portion of the Continental Divide 
which surrounds the San Juan Basin on the east and north, descending quite 
rapidly on the Western Slope. 

Archuleta County, Colorado, occupies the semi-circle of these mountains 
and is watered by the San Juan River, which has its source in these mountains. 
Here is a region abounding in grassy slopes and plateaus — the home of cattle 
and sheep. Formerly timber land, but most of the timber being cut off, these 
lands now grow crops of vegetables, forage and grain. Here is where stock 
ranches are profitable, with wood plenty, coal cheap, good water, a clear, cool, 
healthful climate, and development coming rapidly. Pagosa Springs, the county 
seat of Archuleta, has one of the largest hot springs in America, of rare medi- 
cinal value. A branch line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad connects 
Pagosa Springs with the main line from Durango to Denver. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



51 



M"Tl"Ti"^i"Tt ' "ft" 




illilllllllliliiyMWIHBi 



Alfalfa and Timothy, near Bayfield 



Arboles, Allison, Tiffany 

Below Pagosa Springs, along the San Juan River, are found a number of 
irrigated areas of crop land. The irrigated mesa lands of Arboles, Allison and 
Tiffany constitute more than 20,000 acres of choice, tillable land, with these 
three towns as trading centers. Here general farming — grain, alfalfa and live- 
stock farming — is being quite successfully carried on; fully 25 per cent of the 
land is now being utilized, which shows what can be accomplished in the rest. 

Ignacio, Bayfield, Pine River Country 

In times past all southwest Colorado was within the limits of the southern 
Ute Indian Reservation. About 1900 a new treaty was made with these Indians, 
by which all Indians so desiring could have lands allotted to them in severalty; 
those who desired the old tribal form could have the west end of the reserva- 
tion, and lands in the eastern end not taken by the Indians to be open for 
settlement. 

Ignacio was the chief agency for these Ute Indians, and has become an 
important trading center for the lands now thrown open for settlement. Here 
are fertile, well watered mesa lands, thousands of acres of most excellent 
pasture lands, with rolling hills crowned with pifions, cedars, pines and spruce. 
The mountains have good game, and the clear, sparkling streams abound in 
trout. Here is a natural grass, grain and cow country, offering rare induce- 
ments to Eastern settlers. 

Just a few miles off the railroad is the thriving inland town of Bayfield. 
Here is a well built and substantial business town, surrounded by a most pros- 
perous farming community known for its good horses, wheat, oats, potatoes, 
hay, and dairy products. 

The Pine River furnishes an unfailing supply of water. This Bayfield 
District people began developing thirty years ago, and it is today the best 
developed district of this whole East San Juan Basin. 

Florida Mesa 

The main line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad passes through the 
Oxford District, at the west of the Pine River country, runs through the valley 
of Florida (Flo-ree'da) Creek and out upon Florida Mesa. This is a gently 
rolling plateau mesa embracing some 25,000 acres. It has the famous rich, red, 
sandy loam soil, known for its fertility and depth. It has the advantage of 
being a watershed, dividing flow into both the Animas and Florida rivers, and 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

52 — — _____ _. ________ 

it can be watered by bringing irrigation from both streams. Nearly 10,000 
acres are now irrigated, and as many more can be irriagted by use of storage 
reservoirs, for which the mesa has several most excellent sites. Here alfalfa, 
the grasses, grain and root crops can be most successfully grown, and a market 
right at hand. A flour mill at Durango will take all the wheat these mesa 
farms can produce for years to come, and oats and barley are in great demand 
for pack animals in the nearby mining camps of the San Juan and La Plata 
groups. The hog industry is greatly encouraged by a packing plant at Durango. 

Durango and the Animas Valley 

The metropolis of the whole San Juan Basin is Durango. This city, as one 
has said, ;is "bounded on three sides by lead, copper, silver and gold mines," 
and has one of the most complete smelter plants in all the West. Immense 
deposits of coal begin in the city limits, and extend west and south. Then it 
also has an almost unlimited supply of cheap power in the mountain streams 
above the town. The adjacent hills contain clays suitable for all kinds of brick 
and pottery, while cement rock and good building stone are not far away. 
Durango is a railroad center, with the Rio Grande Southern Railroad going 
northwest to Telluride and Ridgway, a standard-gauge Rio Grande branch to 
Aztec and Farmington, New Mexico, while another branch runs to Silverton on 
the north and the main line extends to Denver on the east. The town is well 
laid out, has delightful, well-shaded streets, good business blocks, comfortable 
homes, and is a city of electric lights, telephones, street cars, and municipal 
advantages. It has a population of 7,000, with a steady, hopeful growth. 

Just above the town lies the remarkable little valley of the Animas River. 
Although this valley is scarcely more than a mile across in its widest part, and 
but fourteen miles long, yet it is one of the most picturesque and sublimely 
beautiful valleys to be found in all the Rockies. When one stands on an 
eminence and looks down into this valley, with well laid out farms throughout 
its length and breadth, and sees the deep green of the alfalfa fields, the golden 
color of the ripening grain, and fruitful orchards of apples, pears, plums, 
cherries, and all kinds of deciduous fruits fringing the sides of the valley in the 




Orchards and Farms in the Animas Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

_. 

higher ground, with the gracefully curving river looping its way down through 
the valley's very center, it makes a picture one can never forget nor lose sight 
of, go where he will. 

The valley has the many-hued colors of the La Plata's foothills for a 
rugged background, which give winter protection and enhance summer beauty. 
Ihese valley farms are as profitable as they are beautiful. The nearby mining 
camps, and cities of Silverton and Durango, take practically all these farms can 
produce. 

Silverton is spoken of as the center of "the most permanent mining camp 
in the United States." Since 1874 its mines have been producing "pay ore," 
and yet we are told the surface has been but little more than skimmed. This 
gives employment to hundreds of men, whose families give a permanent home 
market for meat, garden, fruit, dairy and poultry products to the valley 
farmers just below. 

In the center of the valley is a most interesting hot springs resort — 
Trimble Springs. Here many come to spend a season, and enjoy the scenic and 
bathing attractions so pleasing to all. 




An Alfalfa Field, near Farmington, New Mexico, where 18 Acres Yielded $1,500 in Alfalfa 

The Lower San Juan — Cedar Hill, Aztec, La Plata, Farmington, 
Fruitland, Shiprock, New Mexico 

The extension of a branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad down 
the Animas River to Farmington, New Mexico, where the river pours its waters 
into the San Juan, gives transportation and encouragement for development 
work in the whole lower San Juan Basin. A few miles below Durango the 
valley widens and farms begin to appear, increasing in number as the valley 
continues to widen. A splendid settlement at Cedar Hill has demonstrated the 
crop possibilities of the mesa as well as river valley lands of this region. 

The first important town south of Durango is Aztec, the county seat of 
San Juan County, New Mexico. Here the student of history is interested to 
find the ruins of an ancient pueblo, which must have sheltered at least a 
thousand people. Also one sees traces of an irrigation system of canals, which 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

54 ' ~~ ~~~ " ' ' — 

must have been used for growing crops thousands of years ago. One can not 
help but feel that the early Spanish explorers, who discovered and named this 
branch of the San Juan River — Rio de Las Animas Perdidas (River of Lost 
Souls) — had this ancient race in mind, and how fitting that the modern town 
should be named after them — Aztec. Here, in the past, settlers found fruit of 
exceptional quality could be produced, and orchards cover many hundred acres. 
The corn, alfalfa, grain and other crops, which can be grown as well as fruit, 
are bringing the dairy cow, hogs and poultry to enlarge and extend the farm 
"payroll." 

A few miles inland from the railroad, on the San Juan, is La Plata. Here 
livestock is used to feed up the major crops of the farm. One farmer's ener- 
getic wife, in 1910, started stocking their farm with lambs, starting with five, 
while her husband started, at the same time, with a good berkshire sow. Both 
have succeeded and are supplying good quality stock for the larger portion of 
lower San Juan Basin. The "sheep lady" sold, in 1914, $1,700 worth of young 
bucks, and demonstrated what an energetic woman can do with sheep on the 
farm. 

Farmington, at the junction of the San Juan and Animas rivers, has the 
reputation of selling more land with less noise than any other section or region 
in the irrigated West. The sweepstakes prizes for best all round fruit display 




Irrigating a Peach Orchard, near Aztec, New Mexico 

at the New Mexico State Fair, for 1914, were awarded to George Allen, of 
Farmington. While all kinds of deciduous fruits can be most successfully grown 
here, these settlers, practically all of them from the Mississippi Valley and 
Missouri River states, have learned the lesson of diversified farming, and their 
forty, fifty and seventy bushels per acre corn fields are furnishing material for 
silos, which, in turn, furnish feed for dairy cows; their alfalfa, furnishing four 
and sometimes five cuttings per season, gives the hay that balances the dairy 
cow's ration and the pasture for countless numbers of hogs; the tomatoes, peas, 
beans, sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, etc., give raw material that makes a 
canning factory pay dividends, while it makes profitable use of the by-products 
of the fruit industry. 

From Farmington west, on down the San Juan ten miles, is the Fruitland 
settlement. Here quite a good-sized colony of settlers from the "Blue Grass 
State" have recently come to make their homes and aid in the permanent devel- 
opment of the lower San Juan country. Here, as "back home," they are making 
livestock the basis of their farm work, and will utilize all the natural advan- 
tages that here prevail for permanent and abiding farm success. At the west 
end of the San Juan Basin, in New Mexico, is the Navajo Indian Reservation. 
This is one of the most progressive and industrious tribes of Western Indians. 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



55 

Here, in little more than a decade, Superintendent William T. Shelton, in charge 
of this Shiprock Agency and Indian School, has, from the sagebrush, developed 
a settlement that is an asset to the whole basin, and has become one of the show 
places of the whole San Juan region. It teaches one the opportunities that can 
here be found, to visit the Shiprock Indian Fair, where these dusky farmers 
bring in the fruits of the fields, orchards and gardens, together with the splen- 
did types of livestock which they have learned to breed. This entire San Juan 
Basin is a vast area covering nearly a thousand square miles, well watered by 
the San Juan River and its numerous tributaries. It ranges in elevation from 
the summits of the Continental Divide, in Colorado, to 3,000 feet, where it 
passes out of New Mexico into Utah, where the river drops into the Colorado, 
just above its world-famous canon. This whole region needs farmers and new 
settlers above every other want, and offers real bargains for their investment 
of capital and labor. 

Fort Lewis Mesa and the Montezuma Valley 

On a plateau mesa, just west of Durango, lies the Fort Lewis Mesa. Here 
the Federal Government in an early day established the Fort Lewis Indian 
School. Within recent years it has been deeded to the State of Colorado. This 
grants the state 6,000 acres of fine farming land, with water rights and farm 
equipment, together with buildings worth over $50,000. Here the state has 
established a branch Agricultural School and Experiment Station and Demon- 
stration Farm, that is proving a great benefit to established settlers as well as 
to new settlers coming into the country. 

The Fort Lewis Mesa contains more than 40,000 acres of good agricultural 
land, less than ten per cent of which is yet developed. While a considerable 
portion of this land is covered with pinon and Rocky Mountain cedar, both are 
shallow-rooted trees, and can easily be pulled with team and cable. Both make 
excellent firewood, and the Rocky Mountain cedar makes good fence posts. 
Thus firewood and posts will often pay more than it costs to clear the land. 
Livestock, feed crops, grain and potatoes are the principal farm products of 
the Fort Lewis Mesa. 




Cultivating an Orchard in McElmo Canon — Montezuma Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



56 



The Montezuma Valley 



We now pass into what is believed to have been the first tilled land of 
Colorado — the Montezuma Valley. In its southern and western portions have 
been found evidence of irrigation farming, by a long departed race, centuries 
and centuries ago. The first important point reached contiguous or within the 
eastern limits of this valley is Mancos, on the Mancos River. This is a growing 
town on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, the shipping center for a consider- 
able area of country, and surrounded by large cattle and sheep ranges, with 
productive farms in its immediate valley. It is the point from which a splendid 
auto road has been constructed into the Mesa Verde National Park. This road 
has been built by the Government to reach the ruins of the ancient Cliff 
Dwellers, 2,000 feet above the plain. In almost inaccessible alcoves of the 
canon-like walls, reached only by ladders, this departed race once made its 
home. Here are found among the ruins sufficient evidence to make this peculiar 
race of antiquity as skillful workmen — not only pottery makers and weavers 
of rare ability, but successful irrigators and crop farmers, even surpassing- 
present-day workmen in some respects. The Government has established con- 
veniences at the Mesa Verde that annually attract increasing numbers to spend 
a season for the charm of its location and delightful outdoor life with modern 
conveniences. 

In the very heart of the valley lies Cortez, the county seat of Montezuma 
County. While this is an inland town, connected by auto road with both 
Mancos and Dolores, on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, it is noted for its 
substantial business blocks, schools and churches. 

Dolores, in the valley of the Dolores River, is the northern gateway, as 
Mancos is the eastern gateway, into the Montezuma Valley. It is the trade 
center for stockmen and ranchmen covering a large area of the valley and 
nearby summer stock range, that is a great natural asset to the valley farmers 
and ranchmen. It is the waters of the Dolores River, carried through a tunnel, 
that furnish the water, supplemented by storage reservoirs, for irrigating 60,000 
acres in the Montezuma Valley. Between Dolores and Mancos is another project, 
known as the Summit Reservoir and Irrigation District, which irrigates 12,000 
additional acres. This gives 72,000 acres of irrigated land in the valley. 
Settlements at Lebanon, Ariola, and other points between Dolores and Cortez, 
show what can be done under irrigation by energetic farmers in the extreme 
southwest portion of Colorado. Beef, pork and mutton on these farms and 
ranches can be grown more cheaply, and of as good, if not better, quality than 
in the corn belt, on lands that can be purchased, with an unfailing ivater right, 
at less than half the values these corn belt lands command. In 1914 one of 
these valley farmers sent a few carloads of pea and barley fed hogs to the best 
hog market in the nation, and received a five-cent premium per hundred for his 
well-finished porkers. Peas, barley and corn are the grains that are raised for 
fattening livestock, while alfalfa is the meadow queen of the valley. 

The McElmo Canon Orchard, in the west end of the valley, usually takes 
first premium on the quality of its orchard fruits, whenever sent to Colorado's 
State Fair, showing climate and soil adapted to orchard fruits. The valley, 
however, grows just sufficient fruit for this southwest trade, making feed crops 
and livestock the revenue winners of the valley's farms and ranches. Few 
regions have the natural advantages of climate, water and range so well 
adapted to livestock farming and feeding, that this valley environment affords. 



CHAPTER X 

The Eagle and Grand River Valleys of the Western Slope 

AFTER crossing the Continental Divide, through the Tennessee Pass tunnel, 
on the main line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, -the traveler is 
L upon the Western Slope. Near the top of the range it is observed tint 
the valleys are quite narrow, but one can see great areas of the finest mountain 
pastures on all these mountainside and foothill regions. 

As one goes on down the Eagle Valley from Tennessee Pass, he passes into 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



57 




Harvesting Grain in Eagle River Valley 

and through the Eagle River Canon, and then the traveler comes to the agri- 
cultural section of the valley. The first ranches are timothy and native hay 
ranches. These upper mountain valleys produce the very finest of timothy and 
alsike meadows, which cut two to four tons of prime hay each season. Below 
8;000 feet, grain, alfalfa and other general farm crop fields begin to appear. 
Here, as elsewhere, the very best farm lands are not adjacent to the railroad. 

Wolcott is a well-known livestock shipping point, while in the hills of the 
Eagle District are mesa and valley farms, producing potates of celebrated 
Western Slope quality by the trainload, as well as wheat, oats, barley, and the 
best of feed crops for livestock. 

The Gypsum District mesa lands have been fertilized by the wash from 




A Carbondale Potato Field, which Gave 500 Bushels of Marketable Potatoes Per Acre 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

58 : 

the contiguous Gypsum hills, and these soils are quite responsive to general 
crops of grain, forage and roots. Here, as in the Eagle District, livestock is 
the main industry. The good blood in the horses of this district has brought 
distinction in several markets. Some years ago an Arabian stallion was brought 
into this district. He was bred to some of the mountain broncho mares, and 
the colts from this cross were found to be the very finest of polo ponies, winning 
honors in Madison Square Garden, New York. The splendid ranges contiguous 
are utilized for cattle and horses. 

Power Possibilities 

Below Gypsum a few miles the Eagle River empties into the Grand River, 
and the railroad enters the canon of this river, remarkable for its rock forma- 
tions and colorings. The river is equally remarkable for its power possibilities. 
A power plant, installed at the Shoshone Falls of this river, generates nearly 
20,000 horsepower, and this power is carried on wires over the mountains as 
far as Denver. It is stated by competent engineers that 5,000 horsepower 
energy can be profitably produced from every mile of the falling waters of 
Grand River for its first 150-mile course on the Western Slope. One can readily 
comprehend the manufacturing possibilities and farm conveniences this devel- 
oped power will bring, as well as additional numbers of food consumers for 
these valley farmers to feed. 

Glenwood Springs 

Glenwood Springs is named for hot springs of a volume equal to the most 
famous European spas. Traditions of their medicinal values come down to us 
from the Indians that for ages made use of these healing waters. These springs 
are equipped with bathhouses, affording tub, vapor and cave baths, and have a 
large swimming pool of warm water in which bathers may swim out in the open 
air any day in the year. 

Glenwood is well equipped with hotels, has splendid auto roads, and the 
number of pleasure and healthseekers visiting this resort is increasing each 
season. Near the town are beds of coal, with large batteries of coke ovens. 
From Glenwood, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad extends a line up the 




A View of the Great Potato District of Carbondale, in the Roaring Fork Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



59 




Colorado Cattle from the White River Country on the Way to Market 



Roaring Fork, through the Carbondale District, to Aspen, a celebrated mining 
camp, where "pay ore" has been produced for more than forty years. Up the 
streams forming the Roaring Fork River are ranches and farms, growing 
superior timothy, grain, potatoes, alfalfa and other forage crops. Here oats, 
yielding 100 to 120 bushels per acre, and weighing forty-five to fifty pounds 
per bushel ; timothy that won first prize at the National Corn Show, at Colum- 
bus, Ohio, in the very heart of a great timothy state; root crops that are a 
surprise in quality and yield, speak for the fertility of the Rocky Mountain 
red loam soil. 

Carbondale 

Carbondale has long been known for the yield and quality of its potatoes. 
It is one of the celebrated potato districts of the Western Slope, although grain, 
alfalfa and sugar beets are grown with equal success. Few valleys have a 
higher class of farmers. They raise the best breeds of cattle, secure the best 
seed, and seek to use the best farm methods, with definite crop rotations. Potato 
farmers in this valley vie with each other in seed quality. It was on a mesa 
farm in the Carbondale District that Dr. Appel, of Germany, who is perhaps 
the greatest potato specialist in the world, said, in August, 1914, standing in a 
seventy-five-acre field of potatoes with an almost perfect stand: "This is the 
finest field of potatoes I have ever seen." The quality maintained in the pota- 
toes grown on this particular farm sells the crop at the grower's price. It is 
the soil, the climate, the seed and the farmer that make this farm a success. 

From Carbondale runs a railway line up to Redstone, a former coal mining 
town, and now one of the most scenic resort towns on the Western Slope, 
connected with Carbondale and Glenwood Springs by a splendid auto road — 
and on to Colorado's greatest marble quarries. These quarries give permanent 
employment to hundreds of workmen, and a home market for much farm 
produce to the Carbondale District farmers. 

Old Mount Sopris, one of the sublime peaks of the Rockies, is the landmark 
and sentinel peak of this valley of the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers. Going 
on down the Grand River from Glenwood Springs one finds orchards beginning 
to appear at Newcastle. These appear with great regularity down the valley to 
Virginia Mesa, just below DeBeque. Time was when these orchards gave the 
one crop upon which their owners depended for farm success. The soil and 
climate under these sheltering hills was favorable to both quality and yield. 
But, as elsewhere, it has been proven not good farm management to be tied to 
one crop, no matter how good and how choice that crop may be. So these 
Grand Valley farmers of Silt, Ives, Antlers, Rifle, Grand Valley and DeBeque 
have come to add dairy cows, poultry and hogs to their farm considerations, 
with alfalfa and other crops to feed them. 

For years Rifle has been one of the greatest livestock shipping points on 
the Rio Grande system. The White River country north of Rifle makes this 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

60 ~~ 

its shipping center. This is a noted cattle region, with Meeker as its central 
trading point. Many ranches around Rifle have been cut up into general crop 
farms and now produce fine quality potatoes, sugar beets, grain, alfalfa and 
fruit, with dairying and hog raising as important industries. 

Grand Valley is an important point, where many thousand acres are in 
well cultivated farms, and fruits, supplemented by sugar beets and feeds for 
dairy cows, hogs and poultry, are the farm products for the market. 

DeBeque is an important shipping point, because of the three valleys that 
contribute to its support — Grand, Roan and Bonita valleys. Roan Valley is 
largely given to cattle ranching and general farming, the DeBeque section of 
the Grand Valley to fruit and truck farming, being largely in small farm hold- 
ings, and Bonita Valley has a considerable acreage in potatoes, sugar beets, 
strain and alfalfa, as well as fruit. 




In the Plateau Valley 

Plateau Valley 

Over a small divide from DeBeque, along a creek bearing the same name, 
lies Plateau Valley. This valley lies, as it were, in terraces of different alti- 
tudes, and each ascending terrace seems especially adapted to particular crops. 
It comprises some 20,000 acres lying on both sides of Plateau Creek. The 
higher lands are given to stock farming, where feed crops are grown for winter 
feeding. Most excellent summer grazing on the Battlement Forest Reserve is 
afforded the stockmen. The lower lands are well adapted to grain, forage and 
root crops, as well as fruits. No better dewberries can be produced anywhere 
than are grown in the Plateau Valley. Distance from transportation neces- 
sitates the growing of such crops as can be profitably hauled to the railroad at 
DeBeque or fed in the valley. Livestock and dairy products are the chief 
concern of Plateau Valley farmers. 

Virginia Mesa 

Below DeBeque is a mesa of red loam soil known as Virginia Mesa. This 
comprises some 3,000 acres, watered by a pumping plant. It has been cut up 
into small farms for intensive farming. 

Lower Grand Valley 

Below Virginia Mesa the river drops into a rugged sandstone canon, with 
just room for the streams and the railroad. This continues for several miles 
until, near Cameo, the cliffs give way to the right and left, and the Lower 
Grand Valley, of more than 100,000 acres, spreads out in the form of a rounded, 
V-shaped plain, with Palisade in the foreground. This is one of the oldest and 
most celebrated fruit regions in Colorado. Here in continuous succession are 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

___ _ _ 

fruit farms, from forty acres down to ten acres, in one great cultivated area, 
the shipping centers are Palisade, Clifton, Grand Junction and Fruita. Below 
Fruita are the more recent settlements of Loma and Mack. Fruit has been a 
dominant product of the Lower Grand Valley since back in the eighties. While 
fruit is the principal crop — peaches at Palisade, apples and pears at Clifton, 
peaches, apples and pears at Grand Junction, and apples at Fruita — the keeping 
of a few dairy cows, some hogs and chickens, has come to be quite an industry 
on these fruit farms. Intertilled crops are grown between rows of trees while 
waiting for orchard trees to come into bearing. This gives returns from the 
land before the trees come on. As fine cantaloupes as any region can grow are 
thus raised around Clifton, Grand Junction, Fruita and Loma, as well as beans, 
peas and other truck crops. 

Grand Junction has one of the oldest sugar beet factories in Colorado. 
Several thousand acres of sugar beets are grown to supply this factory. A 
flouring mill offers a good home market for milling wheat. Growing early 
potatoes has recently become quite an industry. Alfalfa is quite generally 
grown to prepare the ground for succeeding crops and to furnish feed for the 
general farm stock. The Government Grand Valley Irrigation Project is now 
in process of completion. It will bring water from the Grand River to 50,000 
additional acres of agricultural lands in the valley. Private companies are 
also bringing water to a considerable area of additional mesa land. One com- 
pany is operating north of Fruita — Ruby Lea Mesa ; another one across the 
river from Grand Junction and west of the town — Redlands Mesa, and a third 
across the Grand River from Grand Junction and running east toward Palisade 
— Orchard Mesa. 

An interurban electric line now connects Grand Junction and Fruita, while 
telephones and free rural delivery are practically all over the Lower Grand 
Valley. Grand Junction is the largest town between Pueblo and Provo, Utah, 
on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. This city is the county seat of Mesa 
County, a division headquarters on the railroad, and has one of the largest and 
best Rio Grande station buildings in Colorado. 

Mesa County has employed a county agriculturist, who is doing much to 




Picking Pears in the Grand River Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

62 

help farmers work out soil, crop and general farm problems, while he helps the 
new settler to get the right start in the beginning. 

The fruit growers of the Grand Valley have the largest fruit growers' 
association in the state. A State Fruit Growers' Auxiliary Committee has 
arranged methods and plans whereby all Western Slope fruit growers and 
associations have gotten together in pack and marketing plans, so regular 
revenue returns shall come to growers, while a uniform grade and pack shall 
go to all consumers of Western Slope fruit. 

Grand Valley offers to the homeseeker either developed or undeveloped 
land "under the ditch," in a district that has all the modern comforts of life. 
The settler who comes now profits by the more than forty years' experience of 
the older settlers, who had to learn by their mistakes, as no one was there to 
show them what they should and what they should not do when they came. 
Like many other regions that have been irrigated for a long time and where 
waste waters have not been conserved, in the lower portions of the valley near 
the river the water table has been allowed to reach too near the surface. When 
drained, these lands become the best and most responsive of crop lands. More 
careful methods of conserving the water are now practiced than formerly, and 
the seeping of the river bottom land is, therefore checked. 

Orchard farmers of this valley have fruit raising reduced to a science. 
With the commercial types to grow definitely settled, a uniform grade and pack 
agreed upon, and, through efficient plans for marketing the fruit crop, to bring 
the grower remunerative prices while the consumer obtains this choice fruit 
a thousand miles from these orchards at a price so reasonable he, year by year, 
increases his orders, all promise to make fruit farming in Grand Valley a 
permanently profitable and successful business, when some type of livestock is 
found on every farm. 

Settlers on Grand Valley new lands, now being opened for settlement, will 
find the majority of these important problems solved, and, with the men whose 
experience has helped to work out the solution, they will profit by the practices 
the past has shown it is wise to follow in the future. The later Loma District 
farmers are now demonstrating the truth of this statement. 

From Mack, at the west end of the lower valley, runs a railroad northwest 
to Watson, Utah, in the region of gilsonite and asphaltum deposits. It also 
gives an entrance into the Uintah Basin, a promising but undeveloped section 
of Utah. 

No section of Colorado is better known than the Grand Valley. With the 
completion of the United States Reclamation Grand Valley Project and the 
private projects now being built in the valley, there will be room for several 
thousand additional homes on lands now in sagebrush which, with water 
delivered, can be obtained on most liberal terms and at reasonable prices. 



CHAPTER XI 

Upper Gunnison and Uncompahgre Valleys — Montrose and San Miguel 
County Lands Now Being Developed 

ONE of the greatest native hay and livestock districts in the intermountain 
regions is the Upper Gunnison Valley District. Here one finds a wealth 
of water, grass and scenery. Supplementing the free open range are 
forest reserves, where grazing permits are granted to the full number of head 
of livestock that can be maintained without injury to the permanency of the 
pasture within the Forest Reserve. While grain, roots and forage crops are 
successfully grown in this valley, both above and below the town of Gunnison, 
the splendid horse and feeder cattle here grown constitute the most valuable 
farm asset of this interesting valley. The fine trout fishing in summer attracts 
hundreds to the Upper Gunnison country and the great coal mines of the 
Crested Butte District, together with mining camps in the mountains circling 
the north and east of the valley, give a market for the poultry, dairy and 
garden products which the valley farmers have to sell. 



The 


Fertile Lane 


Is of Colorado 


63 




Government Irrigation Canal Carrying Water from the Gunnison Tunnel 

This valley is served by the Marshall Pass Line of the Denver & Rio 
Grande system. The town of Gunnison is the trade center of the valley, as well 
as county seat of Gunnison County. Here is located one of the State Normal 
Schools and an Agricultural High School, giving good educational advantages 
to this whole region. The Marshall Pass Line follows down the Gunnison 
River, through the Black Canon, a remarkable scenic attraction that must be 
seen to be appreciated, over Cerro Summit and out upon the wide open plain 
of the Uncompahgre ( Oon-kum-pah'gre ) Valley. 

The Uncompahgre Valley has mountains on every side of it; to the east 
the Sawtooth Mountains, so called for their jagged outlines; to the south the 
San Miguel Range, towering to above 14,000 feet, and a part of the backbone of 
the continent; to the west the rounded Horsefly Mountains, whose summits are 




Clean Cultivation in the North Fork Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

64 ~~ ~ ~™*~ ~ — — - 

covered with grassy pastures; and to the north the Grand Mesa, whose tops are 
set aside as a Government Forest Reserve, alternates with grassy meadows, 
thickets of aspen, and forests of spruce and pine, in which game of all kinds 
finds shelter. The Uncompahgre Valley itself lies in level mesas and in gentle 
slopes, an average of twelve miles wide and thirty-five miles long, sheltered 
from storms, a warmth of sunshine almost every day of the year, tempered by 
the breezes from the mountains, a soil of great depth and inexhaustible rich- 
ness, and a climate favoring the growth and development of every vegetable 
from grain and hay to the richest flavored fruits, and every animal from the 
lowest product to the highest — man. 

The Uncompahgre Valley is not one vast level stretch, from hill to hill, 
like some other valleys in Colorado, but is a series of benches or terraces rising 
one above the other. At the southeast end, where the Uncompahgre River 




A Herd of Registered Holsteins in the Uncompahgre Valley 

enters the valley, the altitude is about 6,000 feet. At the northeast end, where 
the Uncompahgre empties into the Gunnison, the altitude is 4,900 feet, making 
a fall of 1,100 feet in about thirty miles. This rapid slope permits of the water 
being carried to the highest of the mesas. 

The soils of the Uncompahgre Valley are divided into three general classes. 
South and west of the Uncompahgre River the soil is mostly red in color, sandy 
in texture, with more or less stone. This soil is considered the best for fruits. 
North of the river the soil is mostly gray or white, and with more clay. This 
soil makes good fruit land, but is more especially adapted to general farming — • 
alfalfa, small grains and sugar beets. In the bottoms of the Uncompahgre is a 
stretch of blackish soil, which is exceedingly fertile and upon which enormous 
crops of onions, celery, tomatoes and other vegetables are raised, as well as 
alfalfa, sugar beets and small fruits. 

It was in this valley that the United States Reclamation Service launched 
its first irrigation project — the Uncompahgre — which contemplates the irriga- 
tion of 140,000 acres of land. Water is brought from the Gunnison River 
through a tunnel to supplement the waters of the Uncompahgre in irrigating 
the valley plain. This tunnel is 30,600 feet long, and the bore is lined through- 
out with concrete. This tunnel carries a volume of water greater than the Erie 
Canal, New York. The tunnel was completed with appropriate ceremonies in 
September, 1909. The President of the United States pressed the button in the 
presence of a vast multitude, that turned the waters of the Gunnison River 
through upon the valley plain. Some 37,500 acres are now "under ditch," and 



The Fertile Lands of Colorad 



o 



65 




A Two-Acre Onion Field near Olathe, Montrose County, Produced 



jo Bushels to the Acre 



the whole acreage possible to irrigate with the waters of the two rivers will 
soon be available for crop uses. 

The settler pays for the land, and pays the United States Government 
actual cost for the irrigation water, in annual installments, without interest. 
Private projects bring within this valley 100,000 additional acres of irrigated 
land available for crop production. Here is the largest potato district along 
the Denver & Rio Grande system. Here are grown premium winning beef 
cattle — winning not alone at Western Stock Shows, Denver, but also at the 
International Livestock Shows in Chicago. Fat hogs and lambs are also now 
bringing market topping prices, while the dairy cow is making an enviable 
record along with all the rest. Alfalfa and livestock, potatoes and onions, 
small grain and sugar beets, together with orchard fruits, make an agricultural 
showing that is not only attractive, but continues, year by year, to give 
remunerative returns. While the choicest of fruits can here be grown, it has 
been demonstrated wise to let alfalfa and some type of livestock have a place 
on every fruit farm. 

Montrose 

The metropolis and county seat of this region is Montrose. Here comes 
the Marshall Pass and Gunnison Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad ; 
another branch runs to Ridgway, Ouray and Telluride, while a third goes to 
Delta and Grand Junction, making Montrose the railroad center of the valley. 
A splendid county fair is maintained each year. It is also the headquarters of 
the project engineer of the Uncompahgre Project. 

At Montrose there is a good fruit growers' association, a canning factory, 
a creamery and a flouring mill. Montrose is a growing, prosperous community. 
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad has a fine new depot here, in keeping with 
the town. 

Olathe is the second town in size, but first in point of potato, onion, and 
general farm crop shipments. This is the greatest onion center of Colorado, 
and the truck farmers of this district win state awards on their vegetables al 
Colorado State Fairs. 

Bostwick Park 

Up in a most delightful mountain surrounded district, in the northeast 
portion of the valley, is Bostwick Park. Here are grown some of the very 
choicest vegetables, potatoes and grains found in all the valley — overlooking, 
as it does, that whole valley and the great San Juan Mountain group. Here is 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

66 

a sublime spot for a farm home — a rich soil, an abundance of mountain water, 
a good climate, and an almost incomparable mountain environment. 

Ridgway District 

In the upper portion of the valley, toward the mining camp of Ouray, lies 
Ridgway, right at the foot of the San Juan Mountains. It is at the junction of 
the Rio Grande Southern Railroad and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. 

Here is one of the choicest herds of registered Shorthorn cattle found in 
the state; also good Hereford herds. Cattle raising is the chief industry, since 
such fine summer range is close at hand. Dairying, and the raising of barley, 
wheat, potatoes and truck crops for the nearby camps of Ouray and Telluride, 
is being followed to some extent. 

Western San Miguel County 

While Telluride, the county seat of San Miguel County, is the center of 
great mining interests, Western San Miguel has one of the great and important 
cattle ranges of Colorado — the Lone Cone. Norwood is the leading agricultural 
settlement of the county, with some 4,500 acres of alfalfa and crop land adjacent 
to the town. This mesa extends on through Coventry and Redvale to the 
Montrose County line. 

Redvale is situated almost on the brink of Naturita Canon, across which 
lies the Lily Land Irrigation Project, irrigating several thousand acres. Then 
the Redvale Canal Company's lands, adjacent to the town; The Mail Box Mesa 
and other irrigable lands, make more than 10,000 acres of land susceptible of 
cropping "under the ditch," right at the very "door" of this young and growing- 
town. 

Beyond the Lily Lands, in the extreme southern and western portion, is 
Dry Creek Basin. Here some engineer will, at some future date, bring water 
to a valley that it will be an inspiration to see. Here and there are a few farms 
already established, storing or pumping water for crop use, but this valley of 
more than 50,000 acres awaits the irrigation engineer to transform it into a 
valley of livestock and crop farms. 

Western Montrose County 

Passing down Naturita Creek from Redvale, one comes to the trading- 
center of Naturita, just below the junction of the creek of the same name and 




Upper Uncompahgre Valley, between Ridgway and Ouray 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

— - ■ g^ 

San Miguel River. The valley here is narrow, with farms the entire width of 
the valley. A few miles northeast of this town is the Nucla Colony trading 
center — Nucla. This was established by the Colorado Co-Operative Company, 
who built a canal, and, at a cost of more than a quarter of a million dollars, 
established a splendid irrigation system, covering several thousand acres of 
Tebeguache ( Teb-by-wat-chee ) Park. From choice melons, apples, pears, pota- 
toes, grain, corn and alfalfa, to the finest types of livestock, these Nucla farmers 
are showing results that awaken deep interest and excite admiration. 

West Paradox 

This western part of Montrose County has become quite celebrated for the 
rich radium and vanadium mines opened up within the last few years. They 
are located in the "rim rock" district of the East Paradox Valley. Across the 
Dolores River, which comes out of one canon, flows directly across the lower 
edge of the valley and enters another canon, is West Paradox Valley. Thus we 
see in the Dolores a river flowing across rather than through a valley, and 
giving that valley but little benefit from it. East Paradox is without irrigation, 
and its lands are not irrigable. West Paradox has around its north and west 
sides, in a sort of semi;circle, a rim rock from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the 
valley, sheltering and making its climate more mild in winter than any other 
Colorado valley. Flowing down the valley, draining from the foothills west, is 
a small creek named after the valley. It has in itself very little water for irri- 
gation, but it furnishes a natural channel that the irrigation engineer has 
seized upon to bring irrigation water into the valley. 

Over in Utah, not far from the Colorado line, are the La Sal Mountains 
that receive in winter great quantities of snow. The irrigation system has been 
so carefully worked out, that two reservoirs catch all the runoff waters of the 
north and east sides of the La Sals, and, through Paradox Creek, this water is 
brought to West Paradox Valley. The present company perfecting the irriga- 
tion system, who own both water and land, are Colorado stockmen of business 
integrity and capital, who are determined that they will bring an ample amount 
of water to each eighty-acre farm unit, and get some alfalfa started on each 
farm before offering any lands for sale. Here they want to make alfalfa and 
feed grains the dominant crops to grow on farms because of the distance from 
railroads, and the large number of cattle on the contiguous ranges that will 
winter in the valley if valley farmers provide the feed required. Springs around 
the rim rock furnish most excellent stock and domestic water, and the long 
season gives four, and sometimes five cuttings of alfalfa per season. This soil 
is a red, sandy loam, shading into a light clay loam soil, very fertile and 
responsive. Some 5,000 acres will be ready for the homeseeker in the spring of 
1915, and as many more in the very near future. While the distance from 
present railroad transportation is sixty-five miles, the cost of freighting in 



Harvesting Oats near Norwood 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



68 




Diversified Farming in the Paradox Valley — Potatoes in Foreground, Oats Beyond. 

La Sal Mountains in Distance 

supplies gives the farmer an added price for all farm produce he can now raise 
to supply adjacent mining and stock camps. Stage service is operated from 
Placerville, on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, to these interior towns. 

Fruits of all kinds, from apples to grapes, peaches and strawberries, can 
be grown, but, under present conditions, only family orchards will be planted. 
Potatoes, both Irish and sweet, grains and root crops of all kinds do well here, 
the environment and call for pork freighted in by the ton tell settlers to get 
into pork production as soon as an adequate packing plant to cure meats for 
local needs can be provided. 

Montrose County offers such a variety of conditions, all with their special 
merits for homeseekers, that it should appeal with persuasion and peculiar 
power to the settler who wants a mountain valley home with most pleasing- 
environment. He may obtain it "in the rough," or ready made to his use 
and need. 



^S^f^^m 



\ i • 



Orchards and Farms Between Montrose and Spring Creek Mesa 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

__„___„ , __. 

CHAPTER XII 

The North Fork Country — Delta, Eckert, Cedaredge, Hotchkiss, 

Paonia, Crawford 

DELTA, the town from which the county of Delta takes its name, stands at 
the junction of the Uncompahgre and Gunnison rivers. It is a prosperous 
agricultural town of 3,000 people. It has a fine system of mountain 
water, for the town brings it from Grand Mesa clear, pure and sparkling; a 
good sewer system, fine, broad streets, a splendid school system, good business 
blocks, churches, residences, and is surrounded by a good agricultural district. 
A branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad runs up the North Fork country 
through Austin, Lazear, Hotchkiss and Paonia to Somerset, where extensive 
mines of good quality coal are located. Delta is also on the line of the 
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from Montrose to Grand Junction. 

Right back of the town of Delta is the Garnet District, a fine mesa of some 
6,000 acres. It is largely planted to orchards, interspersed with fields of alfalfa 
and intensive crops. The bottom lands on the Gunnison River, just north and 
northwest of the town, are largely planted to sugar beets, onions, early pota- 
toes and truck crops. This is very rich land, and, while a small area of it has 
in the lower levels become water logged, through the careless use of waste 
water on higher levels, this is now being drained and will be again cropped 
more perfectly than before. 

Directly across the Uncompahgre from Delta lies a most interesting 
district, known as the California Mesa. This has an area of some 16,000 acres 
and is nearly all in improved farms, thoroughly and well farmed. Fruits, 
especially apples, seem to be the leading crop, supplemented by grain, potatoes, 
alfalfa and other feed crops. 

Grand and Surface Creek Mesas 

To the extreme northern portion of Delta County, separating the Gunnison 
and Grand Valleys, is a most remarkable table land or plateau mountain, known 




An Orchard near Delta 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



70 




An Intensive Farming Scene near Cory — Uncompahgre Valley in the Distance 

as the Grand Mesa. It covers an area of 600 square miles, and is reported to 
take up more room or space than any other mountain in the United States. 
It is certainly one of the most useful, picturesque mountains in all the West. 
Here is a United States Forest Reserve and a Fish Hatchery. A veritable 
forest of pine, spruce and aspen trees cover the sides and summit, while the 
hundreds of lakes on Grand Mesa, filled with the finest trout, give unexcelled 
opportunities to fish, with game abounding in the forest. A private company 
has a splendid auto road leading to resort camping grounds from both Glenwood 
Springs and Delta. One can reach this rare mountain resort from either town 
or adjacent farming communities in but a few hours by auto, and enjoy camp 
life from May until October. Comfortable cabins and tents, with full camp 
equipment, are provided to make an outing helpful, enjoyable and invigorating. 

At the base of Grand Mesa, along its southern incline, is an undulating 
shelf-like slope, shading into the North Fork Valley. This is the Surface Creek 
Mesa, on which are located- many prosperous trading centers and profitable 
farms. Cedaredge, Eckert and Cory are busy, prosperous inland towns, with 
daily auto stage and mail service. Austin is on the North Fork Branch of the 
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and has become the outlet to the railroad of 
much of the Surface Creek Mesa trade. Here a fruit association with all 
modern equipment for grading, packing and marketing, is located, and the 
nearby orchards keep this plant working overtime in the fruit season. 

Every few miles of the North Fork Branch through the fruit districts has 
a shipping station, and here the traveler is amazed at the long line of wagons 
"awaiting in turn" their chance to get to the cars to unload their quantity of 
fruit, brought to the railroad from this productive district. Bankers are 
encouraging their depositors to add hogs and dairy cows to fruit farming in this 
section, so well adapted to all kinds of farming, and soon pork and dairy prod- 
ucts will be an additional farm asset on these good fruit farms of the Surface 
Creek Mesa District. 

Payne's Mesa 

The North Fork Branch, after leaving Austin, climbs away from the river 
and out on a level plain or mesa, known as the Redlands or Payne's Mesa. 
This district lies to the east of Surface Creek Mesa, and is watered by a canal 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



71 




Apple Trees in Bloom — Paonia District 

from the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Here alfalfa, sugar beets and 
potatoes supplement the orchard crops, while the dairy cow, the hog and the 
busy hen help pay the grocery bills and develop the farm. 

To the right of this mesa the Gunnison River is seen to come from the 
south. Before its waters reach Payne's Mesa, they have threaded their way 
through the impenetrable Black Canon, which the Marshall Pass line is forced 
to leave at Cimarron. The branch railroad now follows up the North Fork of 
the Gunnison through rugged hills, until we come out upon Rogers Mesa, at 
the lower end of the famous North Fork Valley. 

North Fork Valley 

This is a remarkable mountain valley, surrounded on the west, north and 
east by mountain barriers, which cut off all severe storms in winter and give 
to the valley a mildness of climate out of all proportion to its altitude — 5,300 
to 6,000 feet. 

Lazear is a shipping station and fruit center, to which the mesa farmers 
bring their produce for shipment. The Rogers Mesa Fruit Growers Association 
exacts from its members careful orchard management, and a thorough grade 
and pack of the harvested fruit. 

Hotchkiss is the principal town of the lower end of North Fork Valley. 
It is surrounded by some 30,000 acres of irrigated lands on both sides of the 
river, cut up into well kept, well cropped fruit, dairy and general crop farms. 
Two fruit associations serve the fruit farmers, each with good packing and 
shipping sheds and warehouse storage. Hotchkiss has 2,000 people, and is a 
stirring, prosperous, growing agricultural town. Their Annual Farmers' Day, 
in midsummer or early autumn, held under the auspices of their Farmers' 
Association, has become an interesting, instructive and most helpful occasion, 
to which all valley farmers delight to come. 

As one goes up this delightful valley to Paonia, he is impressed by the good 
roads maintained. A good auto road runs on each side of the river. While 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

72 

passing up the valley one sees, away from the lowlands, close in, the higher 
mesa lands gradually ascending to the high line of irrigation. The checker- 
board farm field areas, here and there, show that there are still lands to subdue 
and irrigate, providing room within the valley for many, many more to come in 
and help develop all its lands and share in the prosperity of the fertile moun- 
tain valley. Above the high ditch line can be seen thousands and thousands of 
acres of very fine grazing lands. These range lands give every encouragement 
to the stockman, since a wealth of alfalfa is grown in the valley under irriga- 
tion, and the mild winter climate and abundant mountain water give ideal 
feeding conditions for both cattle and sheep in winter. Stock, fruit and general 
farm interests are seen here to commingle, just as they should, to help or aid 
each other. 

Paonia is a most interesting agricultural town in the Upper portion of the 
valley. Here we see the clearest and purest of mountain water piped from a 
spring far up on the mountainside, to serve the entire town of some 2,000 
people. Here one cannot help but be impressed with the fruitful fields sur- 
rounding the town, the inspiring mountain view, obtained from east, north and 
west, while the bird's-eye view of this rich, fertile valley, stretching miles and 
miles to the south of Paonia, must be seen to be fully comprehended. Kesidences 
and public buildings in Paonia are of a most substantial character, while the 
schools of this whole valley are unsurpassed. 

Just above Paonia is the mining center of Somerset. Here is produced 
some of the best coal of the entire Western Slope. 

Crawford and Maher District 

On a small tributary of North Fork, called South Fork, is the Crawford- 
Maher District off to one side of this valley. While this district is somewhat 
remote from the railroads, yet its soil, its climate, and its irrigation make this 
district attractive for settlement. Thus we see the North Fork Valley has 
cheap fuel, good water and plenty of it, with a most productive soil, a congenial 
climate and a delightful mountain environment, which but few valleys possess. 

Stock, fruit and general farm interests insure success from the very 
beginning to the man who utilizes the experiences of the past, and coming into 
this valley uses the natural resources which it possesses in the most economical 
way and practices diversified farming. 

While fruit is the dominant farm crop of the valley, livestock utilizes the 
valley's most excellent ranges and markets, within the valley, its splendid crops 
of alfalfa and other forage feeds grown on the irrigated farms. While the 
valley is well populated, yet there is still room for many more. 

Delta County has perhaps as varied and interesting natural resources for 
the stockman and farmer as any other one county in Colorado. Not more than 
sixty per cent of her available crop land has yet been developed. 




An Orchard Home near Hotchkiss — North Fork Valley 



INTO THE FERTILE VALLEYS OF 

NEW MEXICO 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SANTA FE BRANCH OF THE DENVER & 

RIO GRANDE 

The Valleys of Northern New Mexico 

THE creation of a new state from the territory of New Mexico has 
attracted new interest to the many opportunities in its wide and diverse 
area. An immediate result promises to be the regeneration of the valley 
of the Rio Grande Del Norte, all the way down from Colorado to Santa Fe. 

The San Luis Valley proper extends only about ten miles into New Mexico 
below the Colorado line, but along the Rio Grande Valley, all the way down, 
there is a succession of beautiful smaller valleys, which are being rapidly 
transformed by new capital and enterprise into American farming communities. 
From Antonito a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad extends 
south to Santa Fe, the ancient capital of the West and the oldest city on the 
American continent. The railway, starting about thirty miles west of the 
valley of the Rio Grande, which at this point flows in a very deep canon, finally 
joins the stream and follows along its banks until it climbs the hill into Santa 
Fe, which is on a tributary stream. 

Scarcely more than 40,000 people now live in this section, and ten times 
more can be brought in without crowding. Most of the present population is 
Mexican or Indian, but all through their farms are scattered the holdings of 
enterprising Americans who have realized the possibilities of this region, have 
established farms and planted orchards, and are now making good profits out 
of their foresight. This region is said by experts to produce the most perfect 
grapes of any section of the United States, exceeding in quality even the 




An Orchard in the Espanola Valley, New Mexico 



The Fertile Lands of New Mexico 



74 




In the Beautiful Taos Valley, New Mexico 

product of the famous vineyards of California, and equaling those vineries in 
yield. Peaches, plums, apricots, pears and apples yield abundantly, and failures 
are absolutely unknown. The sugar beets of the Santa Fe Valley, experts have 
declared, after analysis, the richest in sugar content raised anywhere. 

Hot Springs and Cliff Dwellings 

Along this line there are a number of famous hot springs. At Warns] ey's 
and at Ojo Caliente reached from stations on the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- 
road, there are hotels and bathing facilities Some of the well attested cures 
from the springs are almost miraculous. There are other springs, as yet 
undeveloped, one group near Taos Pueblo and the other up Pueblo River. From 
this line only are accessible the cave and cliff dwellings of the Pajarito Park, 
thirty-five miles west of Santa Fe. Here, amid settings of wonderful scenery, 
are 20,000 caves, formerly occupied by a prehistoric people, with thousands of 
communal buildings, some of more than 1,200 rooms, now in ruins. 

Taos Valley 

The Taos Valley, reached from Embudo, Servilleta and Tres Piedras, on 
the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was at one time the granary of New 
Mexico, and is one of the most beautiful agricultural valleys in the world. 
Only about one-half of the irrigable land in this valley is now under water, 




Tesuque Valley, near Santa Fe, New Mexico 



The Fertile Lands of New Mexico 

75 

though there is a surplus in the streams. Many American settlers have been 
coming of late in Taos County and several large irrigation enterprises are 
under way. Red River, La Belle, Copper Hill and other mining camps are in 
this county. There is good trout fishing as well as big game hunting. The 
Pueblo de Taos consists of two communal pyramids, from five to seven stories 
high, and most picturesquely situated. Considerable merchant timber is to be 
found in the county. 

Espanola Valley 
The Espanola Valley is another of the ancient settlements into which new 
blood is about to flow. Rich with orchards and vineyards, dotted with the 
spires of churches, it has enjoyed an unbroken prosperity for centuries. From 
Espanola to where it reaches the Santa Fe, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 
traverses a country already- partly developed, and which is capable of very 
much greater productiveness. The La Joya Reclamation Project, now under 
way, will reclaim the bench lands on the east side of the Rio Grande all the 
way from Embudo to Santa Cruz, the ditches covering some of the most fertile 
lands in the entire Southwest. 

Santa Fe 

At Santa Fe, which has been called the Rome of America, are crowded 
many points of historical interest, the new and old together, the new capitol 
of New Mexico almost touching the old church, more than 300 years old, in 
which worship has never ceased from the time its first mud walls were raised, 
partly to shelter the sacred images of the Catholic faith, and partly to afford 
fortress-like protection to the people of the little frontier settlement, of which 
this was the citadel. On every side of Santa Fe are the old settlements, and on 
every side the enterprising newcomer sees where new ditches can be built, where 
reservoirs can be constructed, and where the land, already productive, can be 
made to yield four or five fold. The city is an educational center, has a splendid 
public school system, and is a beautiful climatic and healthful resort. In 
southern Santa Fe County successful dry or scientific farming is being carried 
on. The county has many mining camps. 




The Fertile Lands of Colorado 



76 




Diversified Farming in the Surface Creek District — Delta County 



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m ™ 

| To the Homeseeker I 

m m 

| A^T'-E have briefly covered the Denver & | 

| V V Rio Grande Railroad Country in Colo- | 

1 rado and New Mexico. Has any particular 

1 region appealed more strongly to you than | 

| any other? If so, for further and more de- | 

I tailed information, address the | 

| PASSENGER TRAFFIC MANAGER 1 

™ or the = 

1 COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 1 

- of the = 

| Denver & Rio Grande Railroad j 

1 DENVER, COLORADO | 

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Alfalfa in Mancos District — Montezuma Valley 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

1 •- ■ — 

Interesting Facts About Colorado 

Classification of Lands in Colorado Approximately 

Lands lying east of Rocky Mountains 20,000,000 

Park and Valley lands between ranges 15,000,000 

Mountain Ranges and Foot Hills 19,500,000 

Western Slope lands 12,000,000 

Total area, acres 66,500,000 

Total area of the State, 103,948 square miles. Irrigated area in State, 
3,000,000 acres. Total amount of irrigable lands, 6,000,000 acres. 

Elevations in Colorado Approximately 

From 3,000 to 4,000 feet 3,136,000 

From 4,000 to 5,000 feet 14,608,000 

From 5,000 to 6,000 feet 10,944,000 

From 6,000 to 7,000 feet 8,144,000 

From 7,000 to 8,000 feet 8,640,000 

From 8,000 to 9,000 feet '. 7,360,000 

From 9,000 to 10,000 feet 5,504,000 

Above 10,000 feet 8,296,000 

TABLE OF COST OF GROWING CROPS UNDER IRRIGATION 

In These Tables the Time and Labor Put In by the Farmer Are Charged Up At 

Prevailing Farm Labor Rates 

1. Grain — Wheat, oats and barley. Practically same cost for each of the 

small grains: Per Acre 

Plowing the ground •$ 2.50 

Preparing seed bed 1.50 

Cost of seed (75 to 80 pounds) 1.25 

Drilling 75 

Irrigating 75 

Total . $ 6.75 

Cost of harvesting and threshing same approximately as in Central States. 

2. Potatoes: 

Plowing $ 2.50 

Harrowing and leveling 1.00 

Seed (average) 7.50 

Planting 1.50 

Cultivating 2.50 

Irrigating . 1.50 

Digging 7.50 

Sacking 7.50 

Hauling to market 6.50 

Total .$38.00 

If inspected (as they should be), add $3.50 per acre to above cost. 

3. Sugar Beets: 

Plowing ground $ 2.50 

Preparing seed bed 1.50 

Cost of seed 3.00 

Hand labor ( usually under contract ) , bunching, thinning, hoeing, topping 

and piling at harvest time 20.00 

Irrigating 2.00 

Cultivating 2.50 

Digging and hauling to beet dump 8.50 

Total $40.00 



The Fertile Lands of Colorado 

78 

Some sections of the state can grow beets for $35 per acre. The average 
for the state is $38.50 per acre. 

4. Truck Crops: The average cost of these crops is difficult to obtain, 
since it varies with the season, kind of crop, price of labor, character of lands, 
method of distributing water, method of farming and personality of the farmer. 
The cost, therefore, varies from $25 to $75 per acre. 

In none of these estimates is barnyard manure application taken into 
consideration, since it goes to the permanent upbuilding of the land, and, 
therefore, should not be charged to any one crop. 

COMPARABLE CROP YIELDS AND THEIR VALUE PER YEAR FOR A 

FIVE-YEAR PERIOD 

Colorado Compared With Nine of the Very Best Crop Producing States of 

Mississippi and Missouri River Valley Region — Average Yield Obtained 

from United States Government Crop Reports. 





WHEAT 


OATS 


BARLEY 


POTATOES 




BAY 




Bushels 




Bushels 




Bushels 




Bushels 




Tons 






Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


Acre 


STATE 


Yield 


Value 


Yield 


Value 


Yield 


Value 


Yield 


Value 


Yield 


Value 


Minnesota 


.13.4 


$11.33 


29.9 


$ 9.77 


25.2 


$11.37 


93.2 


$39.75 


1.7 


$10.36 


Wisconsin 


.16.9 


14.55 


36.9 


10.14 


28.3 


15.28 


87.6 


39.79 


1.5 


13.80 


Indiana . 


.17.1 


15.05 


27.1 


9.78 


24.9 


14.31 


81.6 


50.19 


1.4 


13.80 


Illinois . . 


.16.8 


16.56 


29.8 


10.77 


28.9 


14.87 


84.2 


57.49 


1.3 


12.72 


Iowa .... 


15.5 

.13.0 


12.42 
11.10 


28.9 
23.6 


9.28 
8.96 


25.8 
23.6 


11.38 
13.25 


85.8 
82.6 


44.75 
53.63 


1.6 
1.2 


10.13 


Missouri . 


10.21 


Kansas . . 


.13.4 


10.53 


23.2 


8.65 


18.3 


7.89 


76.8 


59.44 


1.4 


8.29 


Nebraska 


.19.1 


14.18 


25.6 


9.09 


24.4 


9.57 


82.0 


43.69 


1.5 


8.21 


Oklahoma 


.11.1 


8.79 


27.5 


10.49 


24.1 


11.56 


75.0 


67.98 


1.3 


7.32 


COLORAD 


27.4 


21.43 


38.2 


18.60 


36.6 


21.77 


144.0 


82.53 


2.6 


23.60 




Diversion Dam on the Grand River Reclamation Project, Colorado, 
now nearing Completion 



>>v : '-'■*■■ 




Why You Should Choose Colorado Pa ge 

Soil, Irrigation, Markets, Climate and Pleasant Environment 5 

Getting a Home in Colorado 

Selecting - the Land 7 

How to Seek a Location 8 

Prices and Terms of Land 8 

Cost of Getting- Started 9 

Soil the Foundation of Farm Success 

Origin of our Western Soils 11 

Colorado Sunshine an Asset 12 

Fundamentals in Irrigation 

Getting "Rain" when You Need It 13 

Units of Water Measurement 13 

Irrigation Not Difficult to learn 16 

Crop Yields in Colorado 16 

Benefits and Quality Production 17 

Fruit Raising in Colorado 

Famous for High Quality . . 17 

Apples 18 

Peaches 19 

Pears 20 

Prune and Grape Culture 20 

Small Fruits and What They Will Do 21 

Orchard Heaters 21 

Fruit Associations Helpful 22 

Livestock in Colorado 

Every Farmer Should Raise Some Livestock 23 

Beef in Colorado 24 

Horses in Colorado 25 

The Dairy Cow 25 

Sheep 25 

Hog Industry 26 

Grain Feeds 29 

Denver Union Stockyards 2 9 

Poultry 31 

General or Diversified Farming 

Profit to the Farmer and New Life for the Land 32 

Soil Mining vs. Soil Farming 33 

Work and Worth of Field Peas 33 

Legume Crops Essential 33 

Change in Farm Methods Desirable , 33 

Crop Rotation (Illustrated) 34 and 35 

Basis and Purpose of Crop Rotation 36 

What General Farming Should Include 37 

Clearing and Plowing Sage Brush Land 38 

Essentials in Good Seedbed and Crops to Grow First 39 

Benefits from a Number of Crops 39 

Interesting Facts About Colorado 

Classification of Lands 7 7 

Elevations in Colorado 77 

Table of Cost of Growing Crops Under Irrigation 77 

Comparable Crop Yields and their Value 78 



TOWNS AND VALLEYS IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO 
Particularly Described in this Book 



Page 

Alamosa 49 

Allison 51 

Animas Valley 52 

Antonito 49 

Antlers 59 

Arboles 51 

Archuleta County 50 

Ariola 56 

Arkansas-Platte Divide 42 

Arkansas Valley 44 

Austin 70 

Aztec, N. M 53 

Bayfield 51 

Beaver Park 44 

Blanca 49 

Bonita Valley 60 

Bostwick Park 65 

California Mesa 69 

Canon City 44 

Carbondale 59 

Cedaredge 70 

Cedar Hill, N. M 53 

Center 48 

Clifton 61 

Colorado Springs and Vicinity 42 

Conejos 49 

Cortez 56 

Cory 70 

Costilla Estate 49 

Coventry 66 

Crawford 72 

Crystal River Valley 59 

DeBeque 60 

Del Norte 48 

Delta ' 69 

Dolores 56 

Durango 52 

Eagle River Valley 56 

Eastern Slope 42 

Eckert 70 

Espanala Valley, N. M 75 

Farmington, N. M 53 

Florence and Vicinity 44 

Florida Mesa 51 

Fort Lewis Mesa 55 

Fountain Valley 42 

Fruita 61 

Fruitland, N. M 53 

Glenwood Springs 58 

Garnet Mesa 69 

Grand Junction 61 

Grand Mesa 69 

Grand River Valley 56-62 

Grand Valley 60 

Gunnison Valley 62 

Gunnison Tunnel 64 

Gypsum 57 

Hooper 48 

Hotchkiss 71 

Ignacio 51 

Ives 59 

La Jara 49 

La Plata 53 



Page 

Lazear 71 

Lillylands 66 

Lebanon 56 

Loma 61 

Mack 61 

Maher 72 

Manassa 49 

Mancos 56 

Meeker 60 

Moffat 47 

Monte Vista 48 

Montezuma Valley 55-56 

Montrose 65 

Montrose County 66 

Mosca 48 

Naturita 66 

New Castle 59 

North Fork Valley 69-72 

Norwood 66 

Nucla 67 

Ojo Caliente, N. M 74 

Olathe 65 

Orchard Mesa 61 

Oxford 51 

Pagosa Springs 50 

Palisade 61 

Paonia 71 

Paradox Valley, West 67 

Payne's Mesa 70 

Pine River Country 51 

Plateau Valley 60 

Pueblo and Vicinity 43 

Redlands Mesa 61 and 70 

Redvale 66 

Ridgway 66 

Rifle 60 

Roan Valley 60 

Roaring Fork Valley 59 

Romeo 49 

Ruby Lea Mesa 61 

Saguache 47 

Sanford 49 

San Juan Basin 50-56 

San Luis Valley 42-50 

San Miguel County 66 

Santa Fe, N M 75 

Santa Fe Branch, N. M 73 

Shiprock, N. M 53 

Silt 59 

Silverton 53 

Southwestern Colorado 50 

Surface Creek Mesa 69 

Taos Valley, N. M 74 

Telluride 66 

Tiffany 51 

Trinchera Estate 49 

Trinidad and Vicinity .43 

Uncompahgre Valley 62 

Villa Grove 47 

Virginia Mesa 60 

Wet Mountain Valley 4 4 

White River Valley 60 

Wolcott . 57 



DENVER <& RIO GRANDE RAILROAD WESTERN PACIFIC RAILWAY 

MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY 
ST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN <&, SOUTHERN RAILWAY 



PASSENGER REPRESENTATIVES 



BIRMINGHAM, ALA., 838 Brown-Marx Bldg. 
Garland Tobin. . . .District Passenger Agent 

BOISE, IDAHO, Idaho National Bank Bldg. 
E. R. Place. .. .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 

BOSTON, MASS., 740 Old South Bldg. 

Percy Van Tassell. .. .District Pass'r Agent 

BUTTE, MONT., 56 East Broadway 

A. B. Ayers. . . .Trav. Frt. and Pass'r Agent 

CHATTANOOGA, TENN., 420 James Bldg. 

E. R. Jennings. . . .District Passenger Agent 

CHICAGO, ILL., 234 South Clark Street 

Ellis Farnsworth. .Gen'l Agent Pass'r Dept. 

W. H. Donny City Passenger Agent 

H. C. Halverson. . . .Trav. Passenger Agent 

W. H. Glover Trav. Passenger Agent 

J. J. McQueen Trav. Passenger Agent 

CINCINNATI, OHIO, Hotel Gibson 

J. A. Steltenkamp .. Gen'l Agt. Pass'r Dept. 

Hugh B. Stearns City Passenger Agent 

Lee B. Scheuer Trav. Passenger Agent 

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. 
123 East Pikes Peak Avenue 
A. C. Wilson General Agent 

DENVER, COLO. 

Albanv Hotel, Seventeenth and Stout Streets 

A. W. Parrott City Passenger Agent 

A. McFarland City Ticket Agent 

229 Equitable Building 

S. C. Shearer Trav. Passenger Agent 

C. E. Specht Trav. Passenger Agent 

DURANGO, COLO. 

P. B. McAtee General Agent 

FRESNO, CAL., 1932 Mariposa Street 

T. F. Brosnahan General Agent 

E. C. Preston Trav. Passenger Agent 

GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. 

W. B. Kenney General Agent 

HONOLULU, T. H. 

Fred L. Waldron, Ltd Agents 

HOT SPRINGS, ARK. 

C. S. Blackman General Agent 

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., 804 State Life Bldg. 
W. J. Frost District Passenger Agent 

JOPLIN, MO., 114 West Fourth Street 

L R. Welsh District Passenger Agent 

KANSAS CITY, MO., 901 Main Street 

J. M. Cloyes. . . .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 

624-5 Midland Building 

F. A. Mclntyre Trav. Passenger Agent 

R. G. Norris Trav. Passenger Agent 

LEADVILLE, COLO., 401 Harrison Avenue 
S. M. Brown General Agent 

LITTLE ROCK, ARK., 201 W. Markham St. 
W. W. Richmond .. Gen'l Agent Pass'r Dept. 

217 Iron Mountain Station 
M. S. Kitchen Trav. Passenger Agent 

W. H. CUNDEY 

Assistant General Passenger Agent 

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 

Denver, Colorado 



LOS ANGELES, CAL., 702 S. Spring Street 
H. R. Bingham. .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 
H. K. Campbell City Passenger Agent 

LOUISVILLE, KY., 304 Paul Jones Bldg. 
Paul Escott District Passenger Agent 

MEMPHIS, TENN., 39 South Main Street 
H. D. Wilson. . .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 
A. F. Tinsley Trav. Passenger Agent 

NEW YORK CITY, 1246 Broadway 

Wm. E. Hoyt. . .Gen'l Eastern Pass'r Agent 
R. H. MacDonald. . . .City Passenger Agent 
Eugene Lovenberg. . Trav. Passenger Agent 
C. A. Parker Trav. Passenger Agent 

OAKLAND, CAL., 1326 Broadway 

W. B. Townsend General Agent 

F. L. Wagner City Passenger Agent 

OGDEN, UTAH, Eccles Building 

F. Fouts General Agent 

OMAHA, NEB., 1423 Farnam Street 

T. F. Godfrey . .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 
E. L. Perry Trav. Passenger Agent 

PITTSBURGH, PA., 826 Oliver Building 

W. H. Richmond District Pass'r Agent 

C. O. Powell City Passenger Agent 

PORTLAND, ORE., 124 Third Street 

W. C. McBride General Agent 

PUEBLO, COLO., Second and Main Streets 

E. S. Card. . . .City Pass'r and Ticket Agent 

RENO, NEV., 91 North Virginia Street 

E. S. Reader General Agent 

W. L. Garver. .Trav. Frt. and Pass'r Agent 

SACRAMENTO, CAL., 729 K Street 

W. C. Dibblee General Agent 

C. H. Walden City Passenger Agent 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, Judge Building 
I. A. Benton . . .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 
H. M. Cushing Trav. Passenger Agent 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 665 Market Street 
R. V. Crowder. . . .Gen'l Agent Pass'r Dept. 
W. W. Green City Passenger Agent 

F. E. Lovejoy Trav. Passenger Agent 

SAN JOSE, CAL., 42 E. Santa Clara Street 

J. Q. Patton General Agent 

F. H. St. Goar..Trav. Frt. and Pass'r Agt. 

SANTA FE, N. M. 

W. M. Scott. ... Trav. Frt. and Pass'r Agent 

SEATTLE, WASH., 202 Transportation Bldg. 
W. S. Mitchell General Agent 

ST. LOUIS, MO., Seventh and Olive Streets 
J. M. Griffin. .. .General Agent Pass'r Dept. 

S. E. Lowe, Jr City Passenger Agent 

Railway Exchange Building 
John L. Hohl Trav. Passenger Agent 

STOCKTON, CAL. 

E. L. Gamble Agent 

TACOMA, WASH., 113 Perkins Building 

E. D. Lamiman. .Trav. Frt. and Pass'r Agt. 

WICHITA, KAS., Douglas and Wichita Sts. 
C. K. Bothwell Gen'l Agent Pass'r Dept. 

FRANK A. WADLEIGH 

Passenger Traffic Manager 

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 

Denver, Colorado 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



017 064 752 A 




A FEW VARIETIES OF COLORADO FRUITS 



